'I am willing to come to India to talk,' says Pak FS

Sharm-el-Sheikh (Egypt), July 15 (ANI): After his late night meeting with Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon, which the two sides described as frank and detailed, Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Salman Basheer expressed regret that relations between the two South Asian neighbours had come to such a pass that they have to meet thousands of miles away here in Egypt.

He said: "We would be happy to come to New Delhi, I have been there before and we would be happy to have the Indian side over at Islamabad."

Was that an invitation or a signal that the process of regular interactions between foreign secretaries, home secretaries, director generals of military intelligence will be back on track is anybody's guess.

The foreign secretaries of the two countries are scheduled to meet later today to prepare the framework for the meeting between Prime Minister Gilani and Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, which will take place on the 16th (Thursday), the final day of the XVth Non-Aligned Movement Summit.

When it is a question of talks between India and Pakistan, scepticism and hope co-exist and, here in Sharm-el-Sheikh, the situation is no different. By Smita Prakash (ANI)