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NAM Summit
Gilani to meet Manmohan
Afzal Khan writes from Islamabad

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani will meet his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Sharm El-Sheikh (Egypt) on July 16, the Foreign Office announced here amid continuing pessimism about the prospects of resumption of the stalled composite dialogue even after the forthcoming meeting.

Prior to the meeting of the top leaders, foreign secretaries of the two countries will also meet on July 14 as was announced at the June 16 meeting in Russia between President Asif Zardari and Dr Manmohan Singh. The deadlock on the dialogue exists with India demanding concrete action against alleged Pakistani planners and perpetrators of the Mumbai carnage of November 26. Foreign ministers of the two countries also met last week in Trieste (Italy) without breaking much ice.

Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit told reporters at the weekly briefing that the two Prime Ministers would pick up the thread of dialogue from where President Zardari and Dr Singh had left. But he showed his disappointment that India was unwilling to resume the dialogue until some preconditions were met.

The Indian premier had told Zardari that his mandate was restricted to asking him to stop the use of Pakistani territory by terrorists from operating across the border in India or Kashmir. Later Singh told the Press that Zardari had sought time to act against the Pakistani accomplices in the Mumbai attack. Zardari explained that his government was deeply involved in combating terrorism and insurgency in tribal areas and Swat.

President Zardari had planned to attend the NAM summit but has changed his mind allowing Gilani to lead the Pakistan delegation. A segment of Indian media believes that he did so under pressure of the military establishment that continues to exercise veto on matters relating to India-Pakistan ties.

Zardari has not disclosed his side of the story on talks with Manmohan Singh but the Pakistani media and the military establishment have shown unease over the version given by Manmohan Singh and the Indian media which indicates that he did not talk about Kashmir nor did he effectively articulate Pakistan’s stance on allied matters.

US President Barack Obama has ruled out any American mediation but his administration is pressing India to return to the dialogue table for allowing the Pakistan Government to exclusively focus on the war on terrorism in the tribal areas.

The spokesman said Pakistan was seriously investigating the Mumbai attack. “We are proceeding systematically and Indian knows well about that.”