NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will visit Pakistan in March, after the parliament's budget session and before the general elections expected in April, The Business Standard reported on Tuesday.

“It is learnt the visit will take place most probably in March, after the budget session of parliament, yet at least a month before elections,” the paper said.

It said the proposed move appears to be Dr Singh's final major diplomatic gambit as prime minister, which aims to revive the stalled composite dialogue. Dr Singh had given a clear indication at a rare press conference in Delhi earlier this month of his intention to visit Pakistan before he demits office. The press pooh-poohed the suggestion at the time given the strident moves being made by Hindutva hardliners to thwart any such hope.

Lok Sabha elections are expected to start by mid-April and could continue till early May. If the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party makes it an issue to oppose the visit, Dr Singh seems to have no incentive left to pay heed.

Moreover, there are political benefits his party could leverage from not only the minority communities, but also from the liberal and secular mainstream groups that advocate peace between the two countries.

The Standard quoted its sources as saying that the main agenda of the visit will be resumption of the composite dialogue between the two governments.

It said Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma has been asked to pave the way for the visit when he goes to Pakistan next month to attend the Made-in-India show, an exhibition expected in Lahore on February 14-16.

A contingent of Pakistani media is currently visiting New Delhi, a move apparently encouraged by the Indian government, as an indication that some ground work in the area of publicity of the visit is necessary.

India-Pakistan talks have remained suspended since an Indian soldier was allegedly beheaded by the Pakistan army on the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir in January last year. Pakistan has offered a parallel narrative with its own feeling of victimhood. After this, several reports of ceasefire violations by both sides started emerging.

The matter appeared to have been resolved with the much-awaited meeting of the Directors-General of Military Operations on December 24, the first such in 14 years. Both sides again decided to maintain peace on the border and matters appear to have begun to brighten up after this meeting.

The Composite Dialogue Process to be revived spans all the issues pending between the neighbours, including the Kashmir dispute, Sir Creek and Siachen. It formally began in 1997 when the late Inder Gujral was India’s prime minister who had struck a good rapport with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif at the Maldives Saarc summit. The dialogue deals with other “confidence-building measures”, such as economic and commercial cooperation, cooperation on terrorism and drug trafficking.

“We are committed to forging friendly and cooperative relations between our two countries, which we believe are in our mutual interest and essential for the progress and prosperity of the peoples of our region,” Mr Nawaz Sharif told Dr Singh in his message of greetings on India's Republic Day.

The Standard report spoke of “loud murmurs doing the rounds” that when Dr Singh visits Pakistan, the latter will phase out the ‘negative list’ of items for trade, which technically means giving India the ‘Most Favoured Nation’ trade status, the term for non-discriminatory market access.

Dr Singh is believed to be keen to visit his ancestral village where he was born, Gah in Pakistan's Punjab province.

When contacted, officials in the Prime Minister's office told Business Standard that Dr Singh had spoken the last words on the issue at this press conference.

At the conference, the prime minister had said, “I would very much like to go to Pakistan. I was born in a village which is now part of west Punjab.”

He, however, had also added that as prime minister of the country, he should go to visit Pakistan if conditions are appropriate to achieve solid results.

“I have thought of it many times, but ultimately I felt that circumstances were not appropriate for my visit. I still have not given up hope of going to Pakistan before I complete my tenure as prime minister,” Dr Singh had said.

Several high-level visits from Pakistan have marked the return of the Mr Sharif at the helms in his country. Mr Sharif had invited Dr Singh several times to visit Pakistan, through various diplomatic channels. Immediately after coming to power last May, he sent a special envoy, Shaharyar M. Khan.

This was followed by the visit of Mr Sharif's Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, who came during the Asia-Europe summit in November and met Dr Singh, urging him to revive the composite dialogue.

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, chief minister of Pakistan’s Punjab, also paid a visit followed by Pakistan's Commerce and Textiles Minister Khurram Dastagir Khan, who met Dr Singh on the sidelines of the Saarc Business Summit earlier this month and again invited him to visit.

Private sector representatives from both countries are also expected to meet next month in Pakistan as part of the Pakistan India Joint Business Forum.