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Indian and Pakistani prime ministers to meet

26 April 2010 18:41 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. The prime ministers of bitter rivals India and Pakistan plan to meet this week during a summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation in Bhutan, the Pakistani premier’s office said in a statement, APA reports quoting CNN.
With tensions between the two neighbors dangerously high, Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani and Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh last met earlier this month during a nuclear security summit in Washington.
India says Islamic militants who trained in Pakistan are to blame for the November 26, 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India that left 160 people dead.
The nuclear rivals also have a long-standing dispute over the mountainous Kashmir region which separates the two countries, with India accusing Pakistan of fueling an insurgency.
The countries have fought three wars over the territory since their independence in 1947 and routinely exchanged fire along the border, known as the Line of Control, until a 2003 cease-fire agreement was struck.
Pakistan’s prime minister left Islamabad on Monday to attend the regional summit, his office said.
The heads of state and government of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka also plan to attend, the prime minister’s office said, while China, Iran, Japan, South Korea, Mauritius, Myanmar, Australia, the United States, and the European Union plan to attend as observers.
They plan to talk about food security, alleviating poverty, energy and water conservation and rural and agricultural development, among other things.