Manmohan steps up diplomatic offensive against Pakistan

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the soft-spoken economist, today unveiled a new, aggressive face as he escalated the diplomatic offensive against Pakistan. In doing so, he turned a perfunctory photo opportunity for the visual media into a ‘breaking news’ event.

The Prime Minister had barely finished shaking hands with Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari — the cameras were still rolling and clicking — when he said in a firm voice: “I am happy to meet you, but my mandate is to tell you that the territory of Pakistan must not be used for terrorism.”

After this, the media was packed off and so were the officials. Only the two leaders stayed, and spoke for 40 minutes.

Singh’s opening statement is being seen by observers as unusual in its timing and meant to convey to the world that India has not softened its position. The country broke off its composite peace dialogue with Pakistan, started in 2004, after 10 gunmen shook up Mumbai last November, killing 166 people. India blamed the attack on Pakistan-based terror outfit, Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT).

The United States is keen to see the two countries improve relations so that Pakistan can concentrate on fighting Taliban militants on its western border with Afghanistan.

Pakistan has been keen to resume the peace process, but India has remained steadfast in its demand that Pakistan first address the “primary” issue of terrorism.

India was incensed when a Pakistani court this month ordered the release of Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, the founder of LeT.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who came out after the meeting between the two leaders started, said Singh’s tough language did not mean that the meeting had got off to a rocky start. “I would look at it differently, I think it is a positive development… the fact that the two leaders are meeting for the first time since the tragic Mumbai incident.”

Qureshi said Pakistan itself was a “victim of terrorism” and that the menace was not country-specific.

Singh and Zardari met today in Yekaterinburg, Russia, against the backdrop of the meetings of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) nations and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the regional security bloc in which India has ‘observer’ status.

“The two leaders reviewed our relationship, which remain under considerable stress. The Prime Minister conveyed the full extent of our expectation that Pakistan must prevent the use of its territory for terrorist attacks against India and dismantle the infrastructure for terrorism,” Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon said after the meeting. The Prime Minister is likely to speak about the meeting tomorrow.

According to Menon, it was agreed that the “primary issue” of terrorism will be discussed by the two foreign secretaries and the two leaders will meet again at the summit meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement at Sharm-el-Sheikh in Egypt in the middle of July.

They also spoke of the potential of India-Pakistan relations, of which only a small portion has been tapped by the dialogue process.

Singh, Hu discuss common financial concerns

Weeks after taking charge for a second term, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has cranked diplomatic efforts up several notches. Late Monday evening, he and Chinese President Hu Jintao spent nearly 50 minutes together, and finished just before midnight. According to Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon, the two leaders discussed common concerns and aspirations in restructuring the international finance order. They also agreed that an early meeting of the joint economic group — made up of the two commerce ministers — was needed.

On Tuesday morning, Singh met Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev and discussed cooperation in various sectors, especially energy, including civil nuclear energy.crore, logging a growth of 40 per cent. Non-interest income went up 20.47 per cent to Rs 6.06 crore during the quarter.