Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf said confidence-building measures between Pakistan and India could result in the reopening of consulates in Karachi and Mumbai.
At a meeting with Muthahida Quami Movement parliamentarians on Friday, he said the measures could also result in the opening of a road link between Khokhrapar in Sindh province and Rajasthan.
"The president assured us the government would consider opening of Khokhrapar border whenever there is an exchange of more measures between India and Pakistan," MQM parliamentarian Farooq Sattar, who attended the meeting in Rawalpindi, told reporters.
The consulates in Mumbai and Karachi were closed in 1992 following a dispute between the two countries over Jinnah House in Mumbai.
"We are set to hold composite dialogue with (the) Indian leadership over the matter and deliberations to start a ferry service between Mumbai and Karachi are going on," the MQM leaders quoted Musharraf as saying.
Diplomats said talks on the Khokhrapar road link and a ferry service between Karachi and Mumbai, besides a bus service between Srinagar and Muzafarabad, could begin on January 20.
The two issues were important for the MQM as it represents the Sindh province and its capital Karachi, the home of Sindhis and thousands of migrants from India, called Mohajirs.
Sindhis, who retained fraternal links with India, are bitter over the closure of the border-point for over two decades.
The reopening of the consulate in Karachi will be a relief for Sindhis who have to travel to Islamabad for an Indian visa. They have to travel to Lahore for a bus to India through the Wagah border in Punjab.
The Indian consulate building in Karachi and five Indian government properties have been closed and repeated attempts have been made by property dealers in Karachi to sell them with false documents. The Pakistan government, after a complaint from the Indian High Commission, intervened after an attempt.
Musharraf also met a breakaway faction of Pakistan People's Party parliamentarians, which is part of Premier Zafarullah Khan Jamali's ruling coalition.
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