Singh, Zardari to meet Tuesday, first since 26/11

Yekaterinburg, Jun 15 (PTI) Indian Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari will
meet here Tuesday, the first top-level contact since the 26/11
attacks which stalled the composite dialogue process.

Singh and Zardari, who will be in this Russian city for
the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit, will have
a brief interaction during which they are expected to talk
about bilateral ties and the way forward.

This will be the first high-level contact between the two
countries since the Mumbai attacks as India has suspended
dialogue till Pakistan takes "concrete" action against those
behind the strikes and dismantles the terror infrastructure.

The meeting between Singh and Zardari, though informal
with no structured agenda, may lead to resumption of bilateral
dialogue at some level if the two leaders agree to it.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said the
meeting will have a "salutary impact" on bilateral ties.

"It is a welcome development and will have a salutary
impact," Pakistan's official APP news agency quoted him as
saying here. "The two leaders will have a one-on-one meeting,"
he said but refused to "prejudge the outcome".

The two leaders last met in September 2008 on the
sidelines of UN General Assembly in New York.

Earlier, Singh had said "there is no other alternative
but to pursue the path of dialogue... It is in our vital
interest to try again to make peace with Pakistan but it takes
two hands to clap." PTI SDG
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