PM,Gilani to hold ‘limited dialogue’

“The talks will mainly centre on these issues while reiterating New Delhi’s stand that Islamabad deliver,through action against those behind the Mumbai attacks,” said an official. Pakistan is using the water dispute to divert international attention from 26/11 and the larger issue of terrorism,which India regards as the main issue between the two neighbours.

The Kishanganga project is seen as the next bone of contention between India and Pakistan,with the latter objecting to run-of-the-river hydroelectric project that will require diverting the water of the Kishanganga river through an underground tunnel.

Pakistan on Friday hinted at a meeting between the two Prime Ministers on the sidelines of the Thimphu summit to “promote project-based development cooperation” amongst SAARC members,observer states and international institutions.

While reiterating India’s position that the situation was not conductive to resumption of the composite dialogue between the two countries,India’s Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao too hinted on Thursday that a “dialogue is always useful”.

Pakistan wants nothing short of a resumption of a composite dialogue,but India — willing to discuss humanitarian and other issues — maintains that this would not be possible till more is done on the terrorism front.

However,with Islamabad placing the Kishanganga hydel project in the international court and the annual meeting of the Indus water commission scheduled next month in New Delhi,Singh decided to hold talks with Gilani on these issues,said a PMO official.

“Word was sent to Pakistan for a meeting,to which they readily agreed,” said the official.

On Friday,Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari had urged India to respond positively to the Pakistani roadmap and come to the negotiation table or else,“extremists and anti-state elements” would benefit. At a meeting of foreign secretaries in New Delhi in February,Islamabad had proposed a roadmap for a meaningful engagement,including a summit,between the two Prime Ministers in Bhutan,on the sidelines of the SAARC summit.

In its recent strategic dialogue with the US,Islamabad sought to involve Washington in the resolution of the India-Pakistan water issue,blaming New Delhi for the water crisis in Pakistan by violating the Indus Basin Water Treaty of 1960.

Seeking redressal,Islamabad handed papers to New Delhi at the foreign secretaries talks relating to violation of the treaty,water storage,dams on western rivers,Kishanganga project,pollution in the sources of water and glacier melt.