SAARC Summit: PM-Gilani meet, talk for 45 minutes

Thimpu, Apr 29: Months after the meeting at Sharm-el Sheikh in 2009, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani met on the sidelines of the 16th SAARC Summit here amid high expectations.

The two prime minister met and spoke for about 45 to 50 minutes.

Terrorism was, as expected, high on Dr Singh's agenda. As per reports, Manmohan Singh pressed for action from Pakistan against the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.

Indian delegation included External Affairs Minister SM Krishna, National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon and Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao.

The Pakistani delegation included Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir among others.

However, no joint statement was released following the meeting.

India-Pakistan dialogue was frozen after the Mumbai carnage, in which over 200 people were killed by terrorists in Nov 2008,

This meeting comes after the controversial meeting between the prime minister in Sharm-el-Sheikh in Egypt in Jul 2009.

The Egypt ice-breaker was followed by a structured dialogue, even though not at the prime ministerial level. In Feb 2010, India and Pakistan met for Foreign Secretary level talks.

Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, who had met her Pakistan counterpart Salman Bashir, spoke on terrorism and other issues straining the bilateral ties between the countries.

OneIndia News