ELECTIONS '98
COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ARCHIVES

Indian officials cautious about Indo-Pak summit

Saisuresh Sivaswamy in Colombo

With the foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan, K Raghunath and Shamshad Ahmed, paving the way for an exchange of views -- on bilateral as well as SAARC issues -- and the foreign ministers of the two countries following it up on Monday and Tuesday, the ground work has been laid for the first summit between Prime Ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Nawaz Sharief on July 29. Vajpayee will fly into Sri Lanka on Tuesday, his first foreign visit since he took over four months ago.

The foreign secretaries meeting was described as ''cordial'' by officials, who at the same time sought to downplay the outcome of the prime ministerial summit. "Our stand on various contentious issues between the two countries is well known, and there will be no deviation from them," ministry of external affairs officials said in Colombo.

"As is the case with all such meetings, there is no fixed agenda for the talks between the heads of the two governments," they said. "Both sides know what to talk about, and what not to."

When asked if it was true that the outcome of the Vajpayee-Sharief talks could be historic, officials said, "History cannot be foretold, it is always written after the event. So let us not prejudge the event."

The worldwide focus on the talks between the two leaders, held against the backdrop of the nuclear tests on the subcontinent, has led to a great deal of caution among Indian officials.

Apart from the summit itself -- whose main agenda is economic, insists Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar -- the 10th summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation has been progressing apace. Although the summit will begin only on Wednesday, July 29, before concluding on Friday, July 31, it has been preceded by the programming committee meeting on July 23 and 24, the standing committee meeting at the foreign secretaries level on July 25 and 26, the council of ministers meeting today and on July 28.

Tell us what you think of this report