On the eve of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s arrival, India and Pakistan gave mixed signals about the substance of summit level talks on the sidelines of the SAARC summit beginning here on Wednesday.
Pakistan hoped that the anticipated meeting between Dr. Singh and Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani would lead to resumption of wide-ranging talks or the composite dialogue. With the top Pakistan line desk officials of the Indian Foreing Office in town, External Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna parried queries on the meeting and asked the media to await Dr. Singh’s arrival on Wednesday.
"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?" said Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi. "We all live in hope. I think talks and engagement are a sensible way to move forward," he added when asked about the prospects of an Indo-Pak summit meeting.
Mr. Krishna said the scheduling of bilaterals was still under way and any answer to a bilateral would be given after the Prime Minister lands here. He noted that the meeting of Foreign Secretaries in New Delhi in February had smoothened the prospects of talks. While talking to the media on his way to Thimphu, Mr. Krishna had stated 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.
With the weather playing truant, locals are keeping their fingers crossed and hoping the clouds would clear so that Dr. Singh would be able to land at Paro airport on Wednesday.
Attempting to douse media speculation which is here in strength with the focus solely on India-Pak talks and the Indian response to replies to dossiers by Islamabad, Mr. Krishna said he had received the replies just before emplaning for Bhutan and was yet to go through them. "I was in a rush to get to Bhutan. When I return, I will go into them and formulate a response,’’ he said. On Monday too, Mr. Krishna had given a similar reply.
Speaking to The Hindu last week in Islamabad, Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik had said the Government was confident of securing the conviction of those accused in the Mumbai terror attacks.
He had also assured that replies to the three dossiers would be submitted soon and said in view of the defence’s demand in the court, it was necessary to receive the confessional and resiling statements of the lone surviving Mumbai gunman Ajmal Kasab. The Pakistani desire to have the India magistrates testify in the Lahore court appears to a very recent addition.
