Malik hints meeting Chidambaram in Bhutan

LD MALIK
 Malik hints meeting Chidambaram in Bhutan
   From Achinta Borah
   Thimphu, Jul 22 (PTI) Describing Indian Home Minister
 P Chidambaram as his "elder brother", Pakistan Interior
 Minister Rehman Malik on Friday expressed his intention to
 meet him on the sidelines of a SAARC conference in Bhutan and
 said there are a few issues to be discussed with the Indian
 leader.
   "Well, since we are here, why not we meet? We may
 meet," he told PTI when asked whether he would have a
 bilateral meeting with his Indian counterpart on the sidelines
 of the SAARC meeting here.
   Interestingly, Malik and Chidambaram travelled on
 Friday on the same Druk Air commercial flight from Delhi to
 Paro, 56 km from the capital of this Himalayan nation, to
 attend tomorrow's meeting.
   Malik said that during his brief interaction with
 Chidambaram on the flight he conveyed to him that Pakistan
 would be "very happy" to offer any help to India on any issue.
   "I have told him that we will be very happy to offer
 any cooperation," he said.
   Asked what are the issues he would like to discuss
 with the Indian Home Minister, Malik said, "He is my elder
 brother. I will give him the chance to speak first. Let us see
 what is in his mind and then I will respond to that. I have a
 few points to discuss but I will not tell you."
   The Pakistani Minister said that he had enjoyed his
 brief stay in New Delhi during his transit to Bhutan.
   "I enjoyed the one hour stay at New Delhi with two
 ministers (the other being Maldives'), including my dear
 friend Chidambaram. We flew in the same flight. We exchanged
 general pleasantries and a brief discussion."(more) PTI ACB
 SAP
 RCJ
 
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   Malik said they would have full one day to discuss
 many things.
   Indian officials indicated that Chidambaram would not
 be averse to meeting with Malik to raise India's concern on
 several issues including terrorism and cross border
 infiltration.
   If the two leaders meet, this will be the second
 one-to-one interaction between them after their first such
 encounter in Islamabad last year on the sidelines of the
 3rd meeting of the SAARC Interior/Home Ministers.
   During his transit stay in New Delhi, Malik expressed
 his best wishes to "Indian brothers and sisters".
   "We all want peace and nothing but peace for coming
 generations," he tweeted.
   The two leaders may discuss about the progress made in
 Pakistan in efforts to bring the perpetrators of the 26/11
 Mumbai terror attack into justice, existence of terror
 infrastructure in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and continuous
 attempts made by militants to infiltrate across the border.
 PTI ACB
 RCJ