Thimphu, April 26: Doubts are dissipating about a substantive bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousaf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of the two-day 16th Saarc summit to begin Wednesday in this scenic capital of Bhutan, but the rationale for it appears to have left top Indian officials with a sense of bewilderment.

Answering questions, external affairs minister S.M. Krishna, who arrived here from New Delhi on Monday morning for the pre-summit meeting of Saarc foreign ministers, told the media accompanying him on his flight that he did not rule out a meeting between the two Prime Ministers.

(In New Delhi, when asked at his joint press conference with visiting Afghan President Hamid Karzai about his meeting Mr Gilani in Bhutan, Dr Singh said: “We will be coming under one roof. So if we come at the same time, it is obvious we will run into each other”.)

He said “economic” issues would be mainly on the menu, but political subjects too could come up. In the context of recent Pakistani news reports about the two leaders possibly discussing the Indus waters issue, on which Islamabad has run an anti-India campaign of late, and also a power project on the Kishanganga in Kashmir that Pakistan opposes, a knowledgeable source said: “Indus waters are a political subject now.”

Asked earlier if the meeting between Dr Singh and Mr Gilani had been fixed after the leaders of the two countries met in New York for the Nuclear Security Summit recently, Mr Krishna said the issue had always been in the air.
The spirit of it was to keep up bilateral contacts at a high level even if no concrete forward movement on key questions was expected. A sense of engagement might be better than its absence, he observed.

Responding to a question on whether India would agree to hand over Ajmal Kasab, the lone terrorist captured after the 26/11 Mumbai attack, to Pakistan following the demand to that effect made by Pakistan’s interior minister Rahman Malik, the external affairs minister said: “Late last night I received the six dossiers forwarded by Pakistan, and have not had the time to apply my mind. The decision would naturally be taken after due consultation among the various arms of the government. However, the Kasab trial is in an advanced stage in India. We should complete our own process first before taking a call on other matters."

A high-level source noted that the dossiers from Islamabad were a response to the material India had sent them earlier, and related to the trial of the Pakistani conspirators of 26/11. He indicated that “terrorism” was the only issue of substance to talk to the Pakistan Prime Minister about at this stage.

It is understood top Indian officials and ambassadors in the region are unable to grasp the reasons for holding a bilateral meeting with the Pakistan Prime Minister at this stage. Those who deal with Pakistan on a regular basis best understand the futility of engagement at the highest level at the current juncture, sources said.

Asked if agreeing to meet Mr Gilani in Thimphu amounted to Dr Singh accepting the contours of the Pakistani “roadmap” for resumption of the composite dialogue process suspended by India after the attacks on Mumbai in November 2008, a leading source said: “It is too early to go that far. We do need to understand first how far Pakistan wishes to advance the relationship, and whether it is capable of taking the necessary steps".

The Pakistan “roadmap” was enunciated at a meeting of the foreign secretaries of the two countries on February 25. It envisaged a meeting between the two Prime Ministers, taking advantage of their presence at the Saarc summit.
 
Anand K. Sahay