Foreign ministers meet for first time since Mumbai terror attacks

Thimphu: The foreign ministers of Pakistan and India signalled yesterday that their prime ministers would talk this week, a meeting seen as crucial for resuming a peace dialogue and preventing further deterioration in ties.

India halted peace talks with Pakistan after the November 2008 Mumbai attacks in which 166 people were killed and which India has blamed on Pakistan-based militant groups.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi met Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna on the sidelines of a regional summit in Bhutan.

"Why not, one always lives in hope," Qureshi said when asked if the two prime ministers would hold talks on the sidelines of the Saarc summit this week. "I think talking and engaging is the most sensible way forward."

Krishna also hinted that a meeting between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani was likely to take place over the next two days.

"It will depend up on what time the prime minister arrives. Let us look forward to it," he said.

Singh arrives today and will stay in the Bhutanese capital until Friday morning. Indian officials said there was a comfortable window of opportunity for a meeting.

Spying charges

The move came on a day India arrested a junior diplomat posted at its high commission in Islamabad on charges of spying for Pakistan, something that could embarrass New Delhi but was unlikely to affect any chances of talks.

"The official is cooperating with our investigations and inquiries," foreign ministry spokesman Vishnu Prakash said.

A meeting between Singh and Gilani is seen as crucial because it would help keep engagement alive between the two nuclear-armed neighbours who have a long tradition of hostility.

The two countries' battle for influence in Afghanistan also has a direct bearing on western efforts to stabilise a region with 1.8 billion people.

Although Singh and Gilani briefly exchanged pleasantries in Washington this month, a meeting in Thimpu would be their first substantial contact since controversial talks in Egypt in July when the two agreed to delink terrorism from the broader peace process halted by India after the attacks in Mumbai.

That move was slammed by Indian opposition leaders as diluting India's stand that peace talks could only resume when Pakistan acted against the planners of the attack.

The top diplomats of the two countries met in New Delhi in February this year but failed to achieve a breakthrough. That meeting, nonetheless, was seen as a small step towards repairing ties.

Education

As the ambitious Saarc University is set to start functioning in New Delhi in over three months, India has asserted that there will be no discrimination in visas against any student from any country, including those from Pakistan, although police reporting would be a must.

The Indian government said visas would be processed in a timely manner so any student who gets admission is able to join the classes without any delay.

The university, intended to be state-of-excellence, will start functioning in August at a temporary premises in New Delhi. The campus of the university is to be set up by 2014, for which land is being acquired in Mehrauli in South Delhi. Students from all the eight member countries of Saarc will be eligible to enroll. At first 4,000 students and later 7,000 will be accommodated.