Archives

KATHMANDU, Jan 2 (AFP) - The foreign ministers of India and Pakistan shook hands, smiled and chatted ahead of a South Asia summit here Wednesday, after weeks of escalating military tensions that brought the nuclear rivals to the brink of war.

India's Jaswant Singh immediately extended his hand to his Pakistani counterpart Abdul Sattar at the opening of a meeting of South Asian foreign ministers.

"It was very cordial, no hestitation whatsoever," their Sri Lankan counterpart Tyronne Fernando said shortly after the meeting. "I would say this is the breaking of the ice."

Fernando said smaller members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) were deeply concerned over the rising tensions between India and Pakistan since the attack on the Indian parliament on December 13.

"When two big neighbours are heading towards war, we are very concerned because they both have nuclear capability," Fernando said.

He said he saw the hand-shake between Singh and Sattar as a sign of that talks between the two countries to de-escalate tensions were imminent.

"I don't think we need to offer them any help to start talks, because they seemed to be heading that way," Fernando said.

The seven-member SAARC includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka in addition to India and Pakistan, whose bickering has delayed the Nepal summit since November 1999.

A Nepalese official said earlier that the two rival foreign ministers demonstrated their friendship towards each other.

"There is a lot of goodwill and a lot of friendship."

Singh and Sattar came together with foreign ministers from all seven SAARC member nations for closed-door talks that will pave the way for the grouping's full summit that begins Friday.

Indian foreign ministry spokeswoman Nirupama Rao played down the dialogue between Singh and Sattar, stressing that the two only took part in discussions of interest to all seven SAARC nations, such as economic cooperation.

She said India's concerns about Islamic militancy in Pakistan did not figure into the talks, although later in the summit "terrorism will obviously be addressed."

The meeting was the highest-level interaction between India and Pakistan since last month's militant attack on the parliament in New Delhi, which triggered a massive military build-up on their common border.

India says the attack was carried out by two Pakistan-based militant groups at the behest of Pakistani military intelligence.

The ministerial meeting was held up by more than two hours as Singh, the last man in, was delayed due to dense fog in the Indian capital New Delhi, officials said.

They said Singh offered prayers shortly after arrival at a temple dedicated to Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction.

India has ruled out any direct talks on the SAARC sidelines between Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, but has left the door open to a possible bilateral dialogue at other levels.

The SAARC foreign minister talks are primarily aimed at finalising resolutions to be included in a declaration at the end of the three-day summit on Sunday.

The two-day SAARC ministerial meeting is their first since May 1999.

SAARC foreign ministers originally intended to meet at least twice a year and summits should have been held annually.

The last summit was held in July 1998, since when disputes between perennial rivals India and Pakistan have derailed all attempts at holding another conference.

SAARC was established in 1985 to promote stability in a region which is among the most volatile in the world, with constantly simmering bilateral tensions and long-running internal conflicts.

The agenda in Kathmandu includes terrorism, expanding commerce within the region, curbing the drug trade and the trafficking of women and children as prostitutes, and cleaning up the environment.

But inevitably, the summit will be dominated by India-Pakistan relations, which are at their lowest ebb since their 1971 war.

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries |

Produced by Lake House
Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager