US denies playing any role in Singh, Gilani meeting

Lahore, July 16 (ANI): The United States has denied playing any role in facilitating the proposed meeting between Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani on the margins of the XVth Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Sharm-el-Sheikh.

US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia, Robert Blake rejected suggestions that Washington is behind the meeting due to take place in the Red Sea resort of Sharm-el-Sheikh today.

Earlier, addressing the 118-nation summit on Wednesday, Dr.Singh, without directly naming or targeting Pakistan, said that no nation should provide a safe haven to terrorists

Apparently setting the tone for his meeting with Gilani, he said that in recent years terrorists have become "more sophisticated, more organized and more daring".

Dr. Singh said that terror infrastructures in any part of the world must and should be dismantled.

"Terrorists and those who aid and abet them must be brought to justice. The infrastructure of terrorism must be dismantled and there should be no safe havens for terrorists because they do not represent any cause, group or religion.

It is time we agree on a comprehensive convention on international terrorism," he said. (ANI)