Officials here said that India must be prepared for the fact that smaller countries in the grouping may raise the issue of nuclear tests in the sub-continent and the resultant heightening of tension between India and Pakistan as an impediment to regional cooperation.

The SAARC charter permits informal bilateral discussions between leaders on the sidelines of its annual summit, but bars members from raising bilateral and contentious issues during the main deliberations. It is in this spirit that Prime Ministers Atal Behari Vajpayee and Nawaz Sharif are expected to hold bilateral negotiations here.

However, in the countdown to the Colombo summit, Pakistanhas been lobbying hard to project its range of differences with India as a matter for regional concern, particularly in the context of the nuclear tests, thereby to ensure that they are tabled at SAARC. Akram Zaki, a special envoy of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will arrive here on Thursday after visits to Nepal and Bangladesh.

Though couched in extensive diplomatese, the thrust of his mission to these countries was quite clear: SAARC must open itself out to a discussion of the India-Pakistan issues. Zaki's message was that regional cooperation was not possible in a climate of mutual distrust and suspicion.

LTTE suicide kits found

The Sri Lankan police have found three Tamil rebel ``suicide kits'' hidden in a grocery shop, underlining security concerns ahead of a crucial SAARC meet to be held here later this month.

The terrorist investigation department arrested five people from the shop suspected to have links with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The raid, which alsorecovered cyanide capsules, was conducted following the interrogation of some members of the rebel group arrested earlier, police said.