'Bush will visit India in February'

WASHINGTON: US President George W Bush is expected to visit India in the middle of February but the White House has not announced firm travel plans.
Bush is also likely to visit Pakistan, a key ally of the United States in the war against terrorism.
Preparations for the visit have been on for some time now with both sides tight-lipped on not only the dates but also in what the American leader might be interested in doing in India.
At one time there was the impression that the US President's visit to India could be towards the end of February or perhaps even pushed to March.
The latest official exchanges on the subject took place when Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran was in Washington last December.
The programme on the Presidential visit is expected to be fine-tuned a little more when Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns visits New Delhi later this month.
Senior administration officials have been consistently talking about the growing nature of the bilateral relations in width and depth and not confined to just one or two areas.
The most talked about area of cooperation in recent days has been the proposed civilian nuclear deal between the two countries in the aftermath of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Washington last July.
This, at one time, was supposed to have been the centrepiece of Bush's visit to India. But now, it is clear that the administration may not be able to send anything firm to Capitol Hill by the end of this month and Congress will not be able to schedule additional hearings on the subject before the first week of February.