New Delhi, July 17: The Pakistan Army Chief, Gen. Ashraf Parvez Kayani, met the President, Mr Asif Ali Zardari, and the Prime Minister, Mr Yousaf Raza Gilani, on the afternoon of July 15, just hours before India and Pakistan resumed extended talks in the evening that soured badly, well-informed sources said here.
Although the purpose of Gen. Kayani’s meeting was to brief the civilian leadership about his recent visit to Australia and the security situation in the country, the India-Pakistan foreign minister-level discussions figured prominently in the discussions, the sources said.
The meeting assumes significance as both sides in the morning struck an optimistic note about the talks between the external affairs minister, Mr S.M. Krishna, and his Pakistani counterpart, Mr Shah Mahmood Qureshi.
In the preparatory talks of foreign secretaries and home ministers, the two sides had agreed on a set of confidence building measures (CBM) like the exchange of fishermen and prisoners, trade and people-to-people contacts across the Line of Control in Kashmir that will signal a gradual normalising of ties.
But things started souring with Islamabad upping the ante on Kashmir and insisting on a resumption of full-scale composite dialogue against India’s incremental approach. The talks deadlocked after the Pakistani side asked for a time line to resolve what they called “doable issues”, including the territorial dispute over the Siachen glacier in the Himalayas and Sir Creek in Gujarat by November, the sources said.