PM, Gilani to meet tomorrow in Bhutan

Sagar Kulkarni and Ajay Kaul

Thimphu, Apr 28 (PTI) India's Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani will
hold a meeting here on Thursday during which the Indian side
is expected to flag its unhappiness over the lack of
"credible" action by Islamabad to punish perpetrators of 26/11
and end cross-border terrorism.
Singh and Gilani had last met for substantive discussions
in Sharm-el-Sheikh in July last year. They had two brief
encounters earlier this month in Washington where both the
Prime Ministers were to attend the Nuclear Security Summit.
Indian government sources on Wednesday said that Singh
and Gilani would meet on Thursday evening, ending speculation
about whether the interaction would take place or not.
During the meeting, Singh is expected to focus on India's
"core" concern of cross-border terrorism and highlight
unhappiness that Pakistan has not done enough on this front.
Singh is expected to seek an update on the investigations
and trial in the Mumbai attacks case in Pakistan.
He is likely to point out that the threat of terrorism
emanating from Pakistan continues to loom and Pakistan had not
taken any concrete steps to eradicate this to create
conditions for resumption of substantive dialogue between the
two countries.
Pakistan has arrested seven of those accused in the
Mumbai terror strikes but Indian maintains that it is not
enough as the mastermind of the attacks Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief
Hafiz Saeed was still free and engaging publicly in vitriolic
tirade against India.
Singh had made it clear a few days back that "credible"
and "effective" action by Pakistan against all those behind
the Mumbai attacks was the "minimum" requirement for
resumption of dialogue on all issues.
Singh underlined that several of the "conspirators",
including Hafiz Saeed, were still roaming about freely and
rejected Pakistan's contention that there was not enough
evidence to act against him.
He had said that proof about his involvement in 26/11,
even that gathered by American agencies, was already in public
domain and there was no need to give any more to Pakistan.
India has put the composite dialogue on hold since the
Mumbai attacks and refused to resume it till Pakistan punishes
all those behind the carnage. PTI SKU
PRS