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Foreign ministers of India and Pakistan shook hands, but ruled out the possibility of bilateral talks on the sidelines of the meeting of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation Council of Ministers, which got underway in Kathmandu, Nepal, on Wednesday.
Nepalese Prime Minister and Chairman of SAARC Sher Bahadur Deuba opened the two-day meet by lighting a traditional lamp.
Foreign ministers of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal and Pakistan were at the venue. The Sri Lankan foreign minister could not attend the meet due to a parliamentary voting back home.
"One doesn't have to be secretive about it [the handshake]... civility is a sign of culture and there is no reason for anyone to depart from cultural traditions, especially for an Indian. There was nothing more than that," External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha said after the inauguration.
"I have no plans of meeting Pakistani foreign minister at all," he said.
The Pakistan Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Inamul Haq, however, said, "If they [India] are interested then we can talk."
"Pakistan is ready for the resumption of dialogue on all issues, including the issue of Kashmir," he said, adding, "but I do not think we will have any bilateral discussions here."
Replying to a question on Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf's virtual acceptance of the continuing infiltration in Kashmir, Haq said, "It is the statement of fact, as there is absolutely no way to seal the border."
"Pakistan government's position is very clear that Pakistan is not sponsoring, encouraging or allowing any movement on the border," Haq said. "However, individual movement can not be prevented because of the terrain and because of the large presence of India forces also."
When asked about exchange of high commissioners of the two countries, Haq informed that Pakistan was ready for it.
Responding to Pakistan's willingness to resume talks, Indian government spokesperson Nirupama Rao said, "We have heard that line before, Pakistan keeps repeating this line. It is perfectly clear dialogue can resume only when Pakistan puts an end to the infiltration."
"There is the question of permanent visible end to cross-border terrorism and the dismantling of infrastructures of terrorism on the territory controlled by Pakistan," she said, adding, "these demands are made by India in line with the commitments made by Pakistan, which [it] has not delivered on,"
"We are of the view that promises once said by a country should be kept and we are waiting for that moment. Unless that happens, the question of resumption of dialogue does not arrive."
Rao said, "The present climate is not conducive for dialogue.
The meeting was convening at the Soaltee Holiday Inn Crown Plaza, where the delegates were also residing.
On their arrival at the Tribhuvan International Airport late Tuesday, the Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers agreed that the SAARC process desperately needed momentum.
"We expect to provide a further momentum to the concept of regional cooperation," Sinha said, adding that SAARC had moved ahead on a number of fronts since the last ministers' meeting in Kathmandu.
On his part, Haq said that the meeting was "a very important one". He expressed Pakistan's determination to promote and strengthen the SAARC objectives and implement all the decisions that were taken at the previous meetings.
At the 11th SAARC Summit held in Kathmandu in early January this year, heads of the state of the seven nations signed two regional conventions -- on suppression of terrorism and on prevention of trafficking in women and children.
The summit, which grabbed the headlines for the handshake between Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, also adopted a 56-point declaration.
The document basically called for collective effort and cooperation to address several burning problems in the region, one of the world's poorest region that is home to one-fifth of the humanity.
It was also agreed that the next summit would be held in Pakistan.
Foreign secretaries of the member countries who attended the meeting of SAARC Standing Committee in Kathmandu on Monday and Tuesday had prepared the groundwork for the meeting of the Council of Ministers.
At the conclusion of the meeting on Tuesday, they urged the respective ministers to strengthen the SAARC convention on suppression of terrorism.
Earlier, they pointed out the need to amend the SAARC countries' domestic laws and make them compatible with international laws on terrorism.
At the meeting Indian Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal and his Pakistani counterpart Raiz H Khokhar came face-to-face, shared smiles, shook hands and sat together.
Modeled after the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or the European Union, SAARC was formed in 1985, but has failed to make much headway in fostering regional cooperation. Critics and experts blame the bitter relations between archrivals India and Pakistan for SAARC's inefficiency.
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