Gilani-Singh meeting

THE meeting between the prime ministers of Pakistan and India, held on the sidelines of 15th Asia-Europe Meeting at Beijing on Friday, took barely 20 minutes to conclude and one can imagine that the subjects they discussed could hardly have received more than a cursory treatment. With the Indians always keener to divert attention from those contentious matters where it would have to be on the defensive, one can assume that Dr Manmohan Singh took a major portion of the time in expressing his concern at the bogey of terrorism. It is here that he could blame Islamabad for a bomb blast or a suicide attack in his country, taking a cue from the Washington and Afghanistan, which accuse it of harbouring terrorist dens, and closing his eyes to the cluster of movements within India that have been waging struggles to either gain independence from it or have some other long-neglected grievances redressed. Mr Yousuf Raza Gilani told reporters after the meeting, "We are in total agreement to fight this menace (terrorism) jointly." According to another news report of a meeting of the Indo-Pakistan anti-terrorism mechanism in New Delhi, the Indians are supposed to have furnished "sensitive evidence" on the involvement of ISI elements in the suicide attack at their Kabul embassy last July. Islamabad denied the charge and maintained that it would carry out its own investigation.