ISLAMABAD (AFP) ??” Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf are to confront for the first time since their nuclear-armed militaries came to the brink of war in 2002 The breakthrough meeting will be held Monday onward the sidelines of the 12th summit of southern Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) which lay opened in Islamabad on Sunday.

ISLAMABAD (AFP) ??” Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf are to confront for the first time since their nuclear-armed militaries came to the brink of war in 2002

The breakthrough meeting will be held Monday onward the sidelines of the 12th summit of southern Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) which lay opened in Islamabad on Sunday.

"The tentative time for the meeting is 10:30 am (0530 GMT)" Information Minister Sheikh Rashid told AFP.

Vajpayee will later join other SAARC leaders for a retreat scheduled at Prime Minister House forward the foothills of the Margall Hills overlooking Islamabad, officials said.

The leaders will have informal discussions lasting about four hours, they said.

"This is a virtuous opportunity for the two countries to normalise their relations and incline forward in expanding their relations, specially economic ties and economic cooperation," analyst Khalid Mahmood from the Institute of