Musharraf to watch series in India

Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, has accept an invitation by Manmohan Singh, the Indian prime minister, to visit and watch the ongoing India-Pakistan series. Manmohan extended the invitation publicly on Thursday and it was accepted within a day.

A Pakistan foreign ministry official told AAP, "Yes, he has accepted the invitation," while a foreign office spokesman, Jalil Abbas Jilani, said that they were "looking at the schedule of the president." Musharraf had expressed his desire to watch a match in the ongoing series in India in an earlier interview, and this was seen as an opportunity to improve bilateral ties between the two countries. Manmohan said as much when he made the invitation to Musharrraf: "I do hope [President Musharraf] and his family will enjoy their visit to our country," he was reported to have said by the BBC. "I must say... nothing brings the people of the subcontinent together more than our love for cricket and Bollywood."

Earlier, a spokesperson for India's ministry of external affairs said that the visit would not be given the status of a state visit, but a friendly one.