India, Pak Indicate Singh, Gilani Could Meet at SAARC Summit

Ahead of SAARC summit beginning in Thimphu on Wednesday, India and Pakistan have given mixed signals about the substance of summit level talks, said media reports.

While Pakistan hoped that the anticipated meeting between PM Manmohan Singh and Yousuf Raza Gilani would result in resumption of wide-ranging talks or composite dialogue, Indian External Affairs Minister SM Krishna parried queries on the meeting and asked the media to await Singh’s arrival on Wednesday, reports said.

“The weather over here is beautiful and don’t you want the relations to be beautiful as well? So do I. We can talk about talks, can’t we? Why not?” Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi was quoted as saying.

“We all live in hope. I think talks and engagement are a sensible way to move forward,” Qureshi was quoted as saying in response to a question about the prospects of an Indo-Pak summit meeting.

Krishna, however, said that the scheduling of bilaterals was still under way and any answer to a bilateral would be given after the Prime Minister lands here, said reports.

At the same time, he noted that the foreign secretary level talks in New Delhi in February had smoothened the prospects of talks, reports said.

It may be mentioned that yesterday Krishan had said that the two leaders would be under the same roof.

This could be interpreted as indicating that the two leaders would have a conversation. But there was no indication whether the talk would be restricted to exchanging pleasantries or pave the way for regular talks that have been largely on the ice since the attacks in Mumbai in November 2008.

(Based on internet reports)