SAARC is not about climate, but Indo-Pak ties

Climate change is the official agenda for the 16th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Summit beginning on Wednesday, but the real focus will be on 'temperature' in Indo-Pak relations, which have always overshadowed such meetings.

Will they or won't they -- is the question everybody is asking about the prospects of a meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of the summit.

Since the inception of SAARC in 1985, the agenda of multilateral summits in the past has always been eclipsed by the bilateral issues of the two Asian giants.

For nearly 300 journalists who have descended on this tiny, remote capital of one of the smallest countries in the world, the big story will be the shadow boxing between India and Pakistan.

Indications about the Singh-Gilani meeting, which could also take up the water-sharing dispute, came from both India and Pakistan.

"We will be coming under one roof. So, if we come at the same time, it is obvious we will run into each other," Singh told the media in New Delhi on Monday.

In Islamabad, Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit also indicated that the two Prime Ministers would meet and said efforts would be to resume the composite dialogue, halted by India after the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

"We would like to reactivate the engagement process if the meeting takes place," he said.

On the expected outcome of the meeting, he said it may not yield "instant results" but if the composite dialogue process between the two countries is reactivated, it will be a positive development.

Sources said the two prime ministers are likely to meet on Wednesday, soon after Singh arrives to attend the Summit of eight countries.

Singh and Gilani would hold talks for the first time after their meeting in Sharm-el-Sheikh in Egypt last year during which the controversial joint statement with a mention of Balochistan was issued.

Singh and Gilani had exchanged pleasantries during the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington a fortnight back, but did not have any discussions.

Since they did not formally hold talks in Washington, there are high hopes that they would meet this time on the margins of the SAARC summit here.

If the two leaders meet in Thimphu on Wednesday, Singh is likely to seek an update on the probe and trial in the Mumbai attacks case being conducted in Pakistan.

Singh and Gilani had earlier met on the sidelines of the 2008 SAARC Summit in Colombo as well.

During the 2002 SAARC summit in Kathmandu, the then Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf had extended a "hand of friendship" which former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had cautiously welcomed, but relations between the two powers remained fraught following the attack on Indian Parliament in December 2001.

Musharraf made a dramatic gesture by extending his hand to Vajpayee, but the Indian leader promptly told him his handshake must be followed by deeds like curbing terrorism emanating from Pakistan.