India takes up ceasefire violation issue with Pak

Colombo, July 31 : External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee today took up the issue of recent ceasefire violations along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir with his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi on the sidelines of the SAARC summit in Colombo.

Mukherjee raised the issue with Qureshi when they held talks on the sidelines of the SAARC Council of Ministers' meeting.

"We shared our perception about our bilateral relations, the composite dialogue and certain recent events," Mukherjee told reporters after the meeting.

The meeting, the second between them in a month, comes after firing incidents from the Pakistani side along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir. It also follows the deadly suicide attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul earlier this month for which both India and Afghanistan blamed Pakistan's ISI.

Qureshi recalled that he had a very pleasant meeting with his Indian counterpart when he had visited Delhi. "It was a very positive engagement," he said.

On his talks with Mukherjee today, he said: "The discussion today was frank, candid and open discussion. We discussed a host of issues of mutual concern."

The two leaders said they would brief their respective Prime Ministers about the discussions they had today and would come out with a detailed briefing later.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to meet his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gillani on Saturday on the sidelines of the SAARC summit.

ANI