India, Pak Foreign Secretaries to meet in Egypt

New Delhi July 06: Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan will meet in Egypt on the sidelines of NAM Summit later this month when the Indian side will seek to know what the Zardari government has done to punish Mumbai attackers and dismantle terror infrastructure.
"My meeting with my Pakistani counterpart is likely to take place at Sharm-el Shaikh (in Egypt) as this will be the first occasion when we will get a chance to meet (after the meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Asif Ali Zardari in Russia last month)," Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon told reporters here on Monday.
He was responding to a question about the timing and venue of the meeting which Mr. Singh and Mr. Zardari had decided upon in Yekaterinburg on June 16.
Mr. Menon did not specify the date of the meeting but it is likely to take place on July 13 or 14, ahead of the NAM Summit on July 15. Mr. Singh, who will be attending the Summit, will then meet Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of the multilateral event.
"We will do exactly what we have been asked to by our leaders which is quite clear that Pakistan will tell as to what they have done and we will tell them about our concerns," Mr. Menon said when asked what India would be looking for from the meeting.
Mr. Menon said they would report to their leaders about "where we stand on issues which for us are very clear that bringing the perpetrators of terrorism against India to justice and dismantling infrastructure of terrorism in Pakistan which supports these activities."
The Foreign Secretary said the leaders will take stock of the situation "and we will see where it goes from there."
Making it clear that terrorism would be the only agenda of his meeting with Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir, Mr. Menon said this is the issue that has "bothered" India for long.
"It is a fact that terrorism coming out of Pakistan, that affects us, is really the issue. This has bothered us for many years. We have had assurances from Pakistan. That we will be discussing so that terrorism does not affect us," he said.
On the issue of Pakistan government challenging release of Jamaat-ud Dawa chief Hafiz Mohd Saeed, prime accused in Mumbai attacks, in the Supreme Court, he said there was lack of clarity on it.
"I have heard all kinds of stories -- petition has been filed, petition has been rejected. I do not want to comment on something that is so unclear," he said, adding India would wait till things are clear.
On security of Indians working in Afghanistan, he said India is working closely with the Karzai government which has given high priority to ensuring safety of Indians. "We are grateful to what the Afghan government has been doing."
To a question, he said the Election Commissions of the two countries were in touch regarding conduct of Presidential polls there next month. (PTI)