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| Singh-Zardari may break ice in Russia | | |
AGENCIES
NEW DELHI : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will travel to Russia tomorrow for a three-day visit during which he will attend two multilateral summits and meet Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, marking the first contact at top level between India and Pakistan since 26/11 attacks.
In his first trip abroad during the second term, Singh will visit Yekaterinburg to attend Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and Brazil-Russia-India-China (BRIC) Summits, the main agenda of which is expected to include the global financial crisis, terrorism and food security.
A significant aspect of the visit in Indo-Pak context would be a meeting between Singh and Zardari on the sidelines of the two Summits which may break the ice in bilateral ties.
Singh and Zardari, both of whom will be in Yekaterinburg for the Summit of SCO on Monday and Tuesday, will have a brief interaction during which they are expected to talk about bilateral ties and the way forward.
This will be the first highest-level contact between the two countries since the Mumbai attacks last year as India has suspended dialogue till Pakistan takes "concrete" action against those behind the strikes and dismantles the terror infrastructure.
The meeting between Singh and Zardari, though informal with no structured agenda, may lead to resumption of bilateral dialogue at some level if the two leaders agree to it.
Asked about the prospects of resumption of dialogue with Pakistan, Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon on Friday made it clear that India is not averse to it but a proper atmosphere needs to be created by Islamabad by taking certain actions against terrorism.
In this regard, he referred to the Prime Minister’s statement in Parliament last Tuesday and said there cannot be a more authoritative comment on the issue.
Singh had said that "There is no other alternative but to pursue the path of dialogue... It is in our vital interest to try again to make peace with Pakistan but it takes two hands to clap."
Significantly, ahead of the meeting between Singh and Zardari, Indian High Commissioner in Islamabad Sharat Sabharwal met Pakistan’s Interior Advisor Rehman Malik who emphasised that his country was committed and sincere to bringing the perpetrators of the Mumbai attacks to justice and India should cooperate with it in the probe.
Malik made it clear that the probe would be a "complicated and long process" and there is a need for India and Pakistan to work together to take the investigation forward.
Singh’s attendance at the SCO meet will mark the maiden participation by an Indian Prime Minister in the Summit of the six-nation grouping in which India is an observer.
"The importance we attach to the SCO is reflected by the fact that the Prime Minister is himself going to attend," Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon said while briefing reporters on Singh’s visit.
The SCO comprises Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan. India, Pakistan, Iran and Mongolia are Observers. Singh will also attend the first BRIC Summit on Tuesday.
The global economic crisis and regional issues are expected to dominate the two Summits and the leaders would look at ways to tackle them through collective efforts.
The meeting of BRIC in the midst of the financial crisis is crucial as all the four member-nations are fastest growing economies accounting for 40 per cent of the global GDP.
Deliberations will be in consonance with the G-20 agenda on the issue.
Considering that all the four BRIC nations favour immediate reform of international financial institutions, the Summit will provide an opportunity for their leaders to synergise their views and present a collective voice.
Underlining that decision-making of global financial institutions should be democratised to reflect present-day realities, India feels globalisation, development and economic process cannot be left solely at the mercy of an unregulated free market.
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