The meeting between Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousaf Raza Gilani, on the sidelines of the SAARC Summit has begun in Thimpu.<br/><br/>The External Affairs Minister Mr S.M.Krishna told reporters in Thimphu that New Delhi cannot make comments on somebody's comments about the talks. He was responding to the statement of Pakistan Foreign Office Spokesperson Abdul Basit, who said that Sharm-al-Sheikh should be the basis of talks. This is the first bilateral talks between the two leaders in 10 months. The last time they met was during the NAM Summit at Sharm-al-Sheikh in Egypt in July,2009.<br/><br/>AIR correspondent reports that in today's talks, India is likely to insist that Pakistan expedite the trial of the Mumbai attack conspirators, take action against Jamaat-ud-Daawa chief Hafiz Saeed, and dismantle the terror infrastructure on its soil. However, Islamabad remains non-committal on action against Saeed, whom India considers a 26/11 mastermind.<br/><br/>Speaking to reporters in Thimphu, Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said any meeting should address the need to resume a full-fledged peace dialogue. He said both the leaders need to go beyond a handshake, referring to Dr Singh and Mr Gilani's cursory exchange of pleasantries at a Summit on Nuclear Security in Washington earlier this month. Mr Qureshi promised Delhi that Pakistan would collect evidence against all conspirators, but didn’t name Saeed.<br/><br/>He added that Pakistan government had arrested Saeed twice but, the courts let him off because in the eyes of the judicial process, the evidence against him was not strong enough to keep him locked up. India had suspended composite dialogue with Pakistan after the 2008 Mumbai attacks, in which about 166 people died and which New Delhi blamed on Pakistan based militants.
News On AIR | April 29, 2010 2:43 PM
PM meets his Pakistani counterpart on sidelines of SAARC Summit in Thimphu