Delay hits Saarc summit

The start of a South Asian regional summit in Nepal was delayed by a day after bad weather yesterday held up the arrival of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf from the Chinese capital Beijing.

The summit, to be attended by all seven leaders of the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (Saarc) which has been overshadowed by the tense military standoff between India and Pakistan, is set to begin this morning even as the prospects of a one-to-one meeting between the Indian and Pakistan leaders brightened again after the Pakistan government spokesperson indicated that a meeting was in the works. It is unlikely, however, to be the full fledged kind of interaction that Pakistan may be seeking.

"There could be some kind of a retreat here in the afternoon where the two leaders will have a chance to interact," Maj. Gen Rashid Qureshi said, adding that the details were still beingworked out.

Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's office denied that it was a one-on-one. "They are trying for a limited retreat after the inauguration," Ashok Tandon, Officer on Special Duty at the Prime Minister's Office told Gulf News. "It will still be a retreat where all leaders will be present."

On arrival here yesterday afternoon, Musharraf said he was uncertain whether he would meet the Indian prime minister.

Later at a banquet, when journalists were allowed to photograph the leaders, Vajpayee and Musharraf stood at opposite ends of the line of dignitaries.

Vajpayee met with every leader except Musharraf, Indian Foreign Office Nirupama Rao said. Earlier, Qureshi said that the current tension required that India and Pakistan hold talks. "It is for India to decide when it is ready for talks, we are ready ," he added.

The shock arrest and release of a Pakistan embassy staffer overnight also cast a long shadow over the meeting, with Musharraf raising the issue in his meetings with Nepal's King Gyanendra.

Qureshi said the timing and the manner of the arrest were "suspicious," and alleged that efforts were on to "sabotage the Saarc summit" but refused to say by whom, but his inference was clearly that India was involved.

The Bush administration, meanwhile, is considering the dispatch of a senior official to South Asia to try to facilitate talks between India and Pakistan.

"We may send somebody to try to facilitate dialogue between the two countries to solve this current crisis," a senior U.S. official said.

The 11th summit continued to see a war of words on the contentious issue of terrorism, although in complete contradiction, a draft document on terrorism was being readied for signing by the seven leaders today.