PM, Gilani meet to assess progress in Pak's Mumbai probe

V Mohan Narayan

Sharm el-Sheikh (Egypt), Jul 16 (PTI) Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza
Gilani met here on Thursday amid India's hope of getting a
categoric commitment from him that Islamabad would act against
those behind the Mumbai attacks and dismantle terror
infrastructure.

Meeting on the sidelines of the 15th NAM Summit in this
Egyptian Red Sea resort city, Singh and Gilani are understood
to have assessed what actions Islamabad has taken to bring to
justice the perpetrators of the 26/11 attacks.

External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and his Pakistani
counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi were present during the
Singh-Gilani meeting. National Security Adviser M K Narayanan
also attended the meeting.

As a precursor to the second top-level meeting between
India and Pakistan since the Mumbai attacks, Foreign
Secretaries of the two countries had several rounds of
discussions, with New Delhi wanting to know about the steps
taken by Islamabad.

After the meetings with his Pakistani counterpart Salman
Bashir, Menon said the relations are under stress and there
are some "difficult" issues still remaining. He said Islamabad
needs to take credible action to bring the perpetrators of the
Mumbai attacks to justice.

"There is no way but dialogue to deal with issues either
to take the relations forward or to address issues that
divide us," Menon said, however, adding that "we have had
difficult issues in the past and we still have difficult
issues to address".

At the start of their meeting, Singh and Gilani warmly
shook hands and posed for photographs. Foreign Secretaries of
the two countries were also present.

Singh did not make any comment on being asked whether he
was hopeful of the talks with Gilani.

Prime Minister Singh on Wednesday made a strong pitch
for dismantling of terror infrastructure and asked countries
not to provide safe havens for terrorists.

"In recent years, terrorist groups have become more
sophisticated, more organised and more daring. Terrorists and
those who aid and abet them must be brought to justice," he
said, addressing the plenary session of the two-day Summit of
the 118-member Non-Aligned Movement(NAM), where his Pakistani
counterpart was also present.

The discussions between the two top leaders are also
believed to have covered the flip-flop in Pakistan over the
detention and release of JuD chief Hafiz Mohd Saeed, a key
accused in the Mumbai terror attacks.

In his address to the NAM Summit, Gilani had said that
there was recently forward movement in Pakistan's relations
with India and Islamabad hoped to sustain the momentum and
move towards a comprehensive engagement.

Islamabad has been pushing for resumption of the
composite dialogue process stalled since the Mumbai terror
strikes in November last year.

After their meeting, Singh and Gilani are expected to
come out with a joint statement or address a joint media
briefing.

The meeting between Singh and Gilani comes six days
after Pakistan handed over a fresh dossier on its probe into
the Mumbai terror attacks to India.

Singh last month met President Asif Ali Zardari on the
sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's summit in
Russia when he bluntly told the Pakistani leader to take
action to stop terrorism against India emanating from his
country's soil

The June 16 Singh-Zardari meeting was the first top-level
contact between the two countries since the Mumbai terror
attacks in November. PTI VMN
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