Pakistan, India PMs meeting on sidelines of SAARC summit today
COLOMBO: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani will hold an important meeting with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh today. Both leaders are in Sri Lankan capital Colombo to attend the 15th SAARC summit meeting. Meeting between the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan is expected to dominate the SAARC proceedings. Ties between New Delhi and Islamabad hit trouble after India blamed "elements" in Pakistan for the bombing of its Kabul embassy last month that killed at least 41 people. India has the "cleanest" evidence that Pakistan's spy agency, the ISI, was involved in the Kabul blast, a senior Indian official who declined to be identified said in Colombo on Friday. The perpetrators wanted "India out of Afghanistan," the Indian official said, adding Singh would raise the issue with Gilani during their talks. After the embassy attack, New Delhi said the peace talks with Islamabad were "under stress" but the Indian official said that India wanted the dialogue to continue. "We have to keep dealing with Pakistan," he said. "We have to draw a clear line of distinction between the Pakistan government and rogue intelligence agencies." Singh will also convey to Gilani India's concerns over last weekend's blasts in the Indian commercial cities of Ahmedabad and Bangalore that claimed at least 50 lives as well as a spurt in frontier ceasefire violations. India has not blamed Pakistan for the blasts, but Indian officials suspect the attacks were supported by Pakistan intelligence, according to local media. SAARC, founded in 1985 with the aim of deepening regional economic cooperation, a goal stymied by tensions between India and Pakistan, groups Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka, gripped by a bloody ethnic civil war, has imposed unprecedented security for the summit, deploying nearly 20,000 police and troops in the capital, while continuing to pound separatist Tamil Tiger positions in the embattled north.
Courtesy
Geo
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