Sartaj Aziz meets Manmohan Singh in Delhi

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's Advisor on National Security and Foreign Relations, Sartaj Aziz, met Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh here on Wednesday.

Aziz, who is in India to attend the Asia-Europe Meeting, also met External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Tuesday.

After their meeting, a spokesperson of the Indian Foreign Ministry, Syed Akbaruddin, said that New Delhi had asked Islamabad to honour the November 2003 ceasefire agreement inked between the two countries.

According to the spokesman, India took up the issue of ceasefire violations with Pakistan during a meeting held on the sidelines of the ASEM foreign ministers' meeting.

The atmosphere for the meeting soured after Aziz held talks with Kashmiri separatist leaders prior to his interactions with the Indian leadership.

Both sides agreed that the DGMOs should meet soon to calm down tensions on the border.

On Tuesday evening, Aziz met National Security Adviser (NSA) Shivshankar Menon, but then, there was no sign of Prime Minister Singh agreeing to meet him.

Both Pakistan and Indian government have come under popular fire for allowing Aziz to meet Kashmiri separatists.

A meeting between DGMOs was the high point of the meeting between Singh and his counterpart, Nawaz Sharif, in New York in September. However, despite that agreement, there has been no move to have the two operational commanders meet. There was a reiteration of the same pact on Tuesday.

Minutes before his bilateral meeting with Aziz, who is Sharif's foreign policy adviser, Khurshid said if Pakistan wanted "meaningful dialogue" it had to create "conducive circumstances".

Answering questions about Aziz's meeting with the Hurriyat leadership prior to talks with government, Khurshid said: "The recent incidents have not been very encouraging, even counter-productive, not good for conducive environment for Indo-Pak dialogue," adding, "Indian point of view and Indian sensitivities and sentiments have to be respected."

Khurshid, according to official sources, reminded Aziz that India had fulfilled all Pakistani demands for evidence and documentation on the 26/11 attacks. It was Pakistan's responsibility now to continue with the trial of the seven accused.