PM, Gilani to ‘walk the talk’ today

Prime minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani will hold a meeting today in the Bhutanese capital of Thimphu on the sidelines of the SAARC summit. During the meeting, the Indian side is expected to underline its unhappiness over the lack of "credible" action by Islamabad to punish perpetrators of 26/11 and end cross-border terrorism.

The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr. Yousaf Raza Gilani and the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Ms. Sheikh Hasina at a banquet hosted by the Prime Minister of Bhutan, Mr. Lyonchhen Jigmi Y. Thinley, at Thimphu, in Bhutan

The two leaders shook hands twice during the opening day of the SAARC Summit. Later, on the insistence of other leaders, both the prime ministers walked together in the SAARC village and exchanged views. They strolled for sometime before returning to their respective villas, a press release said. Other SAARC leaders say the differences between India and Pakistan are holding up progress in the forum.

All eyes are on today's meeting, the first bilateral engagement between the two prime ministers since they met in Sharm-el Sheikh in Egypt, on 16 July 2009. The joint statement issued after the meeting had triggered a major controversy in India over reference to "threats" in Balochistan, where Pakistan has been alleging Indian hand in terror incidents.

With Pakistan indicating on Wednesday that it would like the discussions to be a follow up of the talks held at the Egyptian resort, it's evident that both the countries are still not on the same page when it comes to charting a new path in their relationship.

Pakistan also wants to de-link the composite dialogue process from action on terrorism, as against India's position that dialogue and action on terrorism, especially bringing the perpetrators of 26/11, go hand-in-hand.

Asked about the meeting, external affairs minister SM Krishna said it was a "good step forward" and added that there were a host of issues that could come up for discussion.