India and Pakistan to meet at Asia summit

Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers are to sit at the same table for the first time since the two countries came close to war.

Pakistani foreign minister Abdul Sattar and his Indian counterpart, Jaswant Singh, will meet today and tomorrow.

Both will be at a general meeting of foreign ministers of the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC).

They will set an agenda for the seven national leaders to discuss at their summit meeting from Friday to Sunday.

The US, European nations and the UN have urged the Pakistani and Indian leaders to take advantage of the meetings in Nepal to discuss their differences and the cause of rising tension along their 1,100-mile border.

Pakistani officials said they are willing to meet their Indian counterparts, adding that even civil greetings will help ease the bad feelings that led both countries to amass troops along the border and exchange mortar fire.

Indian leaders say no substantive one-on-one talks will be held until the Islamabad government meets India's demands to halt the activities of militants who cross the frontier and stage attacks in Indian territory.

The Nepalese hosts had feared that the tension might force the cancellation of the SAARC summit for a third year.