PM worked quietly on Plan Thimphu from Jan onwards

The 60-minute one-on-one meeting between Manmohan Singh and Yousuf Raza Gilani without any note-taker on either side was the culmination of a carefully-crafted strategy set in motion some four months ago....

The 60-minute one-on-one meeting between Manmohan Singh and Yousuf Raza Gilani without any note-taker on either side was the culmination of a carefully-crafted strategy set in motion some four months ago.

The Indian Express has learnt that Singh had set the ball rolling for the Thimphu summit where the two foreign ministers were told to talk in January this year,when he asked Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao to call up her counterpart Salman Bashir and invite him for talks.

As the elements of the strategy were scripted,care was taken not to build too many expectations. And a decision was taken much before the Singh-Gilani meeting that the two sides would not issue any joint statement.

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There was no confirmation of a scheduled meeting between the Prime Ministers less than 24 hours before they actually met even senior officials were not told. In fact,only four officials were in the know of the PMs strategy to make the low-key meeting a high-outcome one.

Sources said Singh took his seniormost colleague,Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee,into confidence on his strategy.

During the meeting between the principals as the PMs are referred to in diplomatic parlance Singh is learnt to have asked Gilani if moving forward on the issue of talks and raising it to the Foreign Ministers level would make the Pakistan PM stronger in his domestic situation.

With Gilani replying in the affirmitive which New Delhi had expected Singh conveyed to him about the urgency and the need to have the Mumbai attacks trial reach a speedy conclusion in Pakistans courts.

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While nobody in New Delhi is willing to set any benchmark for what could be described as credible action by Pakistan on the trial,it is widely accepted that conviction of the seven accused by the Rawalpindi court will be an important step forward the legal challenges that will inevitably follow notwithstanding.

New Delhi,which has been watching the trial very closely,has noted that a quality private criminal lawyer has been hired,the qualitative level of arguments are now higher,and the drafting of affidavits by the Pakistan government has improved significantly.

There is also an assessment that Gilani has an increased clout with the Pakistani Establishment,especially the military,and this has provided the confidence that he after the Thimphu decision to hold ministerial-level talks will be able to work the levers for a speedy conclusion of the trial.

Gilani,New Delhi feels,can now pitch the foreign minister-level dialogue as an achievement of his diplomacy and strength,and get things moving in the right direction.

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While the foreign ministers and foreign secretaries will discuss the modalities on the way forward,New Delhi also feels the lowering of decibel levels from both sides helped.

Both sides were measured in their press conferences after the Singh-Gilani meeting,unlike on February 25 in New Delhi when Salman Bashir went ballistic against India comments for which sources said he later expressed regret.