NEW DELHI, April 17: India will consider further troop reduction in Jammu and Kashmir as part of key measures for improving ties with Pakistan, official sources said after talks between President Gen Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The two leaders first met for about 20 minutes at the head of their delegations which in India’s case quite significantly included Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee. They then went into a one-to-one session that lasted more than two hours, thereby delaying a lunch that Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam was to host for Gen Musharraf.

Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran described the talks as highly successful, a description New Delhi had used recently for the visit by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.

Gen Musharraf, speaking to reporters after the summit talks, said he would be returning home on Monday very satisfied with his talks with Dr Singh.

He extended an invitation to the Indian prime minister to visit Pakistan. Similar invitations were extended to opposition leader L.K. Advani and Congress president Sonia Gandhi. All three have accepted Gen Musharraf’s invitation with Mr Advani saying he would be there in June.

“The talks were held in a pleasant atmosphere,” Gen Musharraf told reporters. “They were positive. There was considerable progress on all issues of common concern, including the issue of Jammu and Kashmir. I am satisfied with the talks.”

Mr Saran was asked specifically to comment on Indian National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan’s comments earlier in the week that New Delhi could consider withdrawing more troops this year. He said: “When the national security adviser has said so, let’s go by that.”

Mr Narayanan had predicated the offer on the conditions prevailing in the Valley after the snow melts along the passes on the Line of Control. If the militancy does not increase ‘wildly’ the chances are that the troops would begin to be thinned out.

A joint statement to be issued on Monday is expected to flesh out some of the details of the talks. That the security of the Line of Control has become the responsibility of both sides after the beginning of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service has been stated by Dr Singh on several occasions since last week. He did so in his two meetings with Gen Musharraf who agreed with his host.

Mr Saran said that there was a sense that terrorism was something that could “impact very aggressively” on peace process. He said Gen Musharraf pointed out that Pakistan had condemned the terrorist attack on the eve of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service. The two sides understand that terrorism could disrupt the ongoing “process that is bringing people together”, Mr Saran said.

Dr Singh drew the attention of his guest to the joint statement issued on January 6, 2004, by the then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Gen Musharraf when the former visited Islamabad, and appreciated Pakistan’s commitment in that no part of its territory would be allowed for terrorist activities.

Mr Saran said the entire discussion took place in a “positive and forward looking atmosphere”.

Dr Singh ruled out what he called redrawing of boundaries but said every possible step would be taken to resolve the Kashmir issue.

Gen Musharraf asked Prime Minister Singh to consider the possibility of freeing Kashmir’s political prisoners to indicate an important confidence-building measure.

The two sides expressed readiness to make life easier for people divided by the Line of Control in Kashmir, and to work towards finalizing several CBMs that would improve the situation in Kashmir and elsewhere.

The two sides also agreed that the rail between Kokhrapar and Munnabao on the Sindh- Rajasthan border would be operational by December, possibly on Qaid-i-Azam’s birthday.

The countries also discussed about the future of people who stray across the border. It was decided that those who have strayed across the borders in recent times would be handed back to their respective countries.

The Indian side told General Musharraf that 136 civilian prisoners would be released as soon as their travel documents are ready.

Dr Singh also pointed out that India and Pakistan must reopen their traditional transit routes so that the two countries have access to Central Asia, Gulf and other regions.

India has placed seven CBMs before Pakistan, many of them specifically for Kashmir.

The CBMs would be discussed in detail and finalized later. If agreed, they would together make the Line of Control a soft border, allowing Kashmirs to travel easily between the two sides.

According to Mr Saran, the two leaders recognised the fact that there was a need to work towards better economic ties and to find early solution to bilateral disputes plaguing the two nations for several decades now.

In South Asia, if India and Pakistan, the two largest economies, join hands together, “it is possible for us to transform the economic prospects of South Asia together”.

“In his view this was eminently possible and this was the direction the relationship should take,” Mr Saran said quoting from Dr Singh’s speech. “President Musharraf responded very positively” and shared his vision of the “two countries focussing energies on increasing livelihood of people, common prosperity”, Mr Saran said.

Dr Singh presented Gen Musharraf a painting of the Nahervali Haveli in Delhi where the president was born.