Pakistan softens up before Gilani, Manmohan's meet at SAARC summit

Colombo, August 1 : Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Friday that India and Pakistan should consider ceasefire as the most important Confidence Building Measure (CBM) between the two country.

In a bid to calm down the tensions between both the countries before the scheduled meeting of the Prime Minister's of India and Pakistan on the sidelines of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) on Saturday, Qureshi said, "I think both sides feel that ceasefire is the most important Confidence Building Measure between India and Pakistan and its should be upheld its been a very useful CBM and we both want to respect that and we will have a word when PM meets on August 2."

India and Pakistan are on the path of confrontation of sorts over the ceasefire violations and Kabul embassy bombing.

The issue is taken up at the highest levels, the recent incidents were also taken up in the bilateral meeting between the Foreign Ministers of India and Pakistan which took place on Thursday on the margins of SAARC.

India has renewed its attack on Pakistan's on the issue as the senior officials accompanying Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to SAARC have told accompanying media persons that there are clear intercepts and leads which proves that Pakistan intelligence agency is involved in Kabul bombing.

In fact according to the New York Times US intelligence agencies also confirms Pakistan's involvement in Kabul embassy bombing.

However Qureshi has once again rubbished the claim.

Earlier on Thursday, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee took up the issue of recent ceasefire violations along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir with his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi in their meeting in Colombo.

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

ANI