Amid apparent unease within the Congress over the proposed meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif in New York later this month, efforts are on to finalise arrangements.
External affairs minister Salman Khurshid is expected to meet Sartaj Aziz, Mr Sharif’s national security and foreign policy adviser, at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on Friday. There are indications they will discuss the schedule for the two PMs’ meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in late September.
While the government appears keen, to demonstrate a thaw in bilateral ties, the Congress doesn’t share this enthusiasm as it fears it won’t send the right signal to the people close to elections.
It is felt the time is not yet ripe for the two PMs’ meeting given that Pakistan is yet to deliver on the terror front.