NEW DELHI, Aug 23: India withheld comment on Thursday over a Pakistani suggestion that the leaders of the two countries could meet in New York next month. However, Indian External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha reassured the region, and perhaps the world, that the next Saarc summit due in Islamabad in January would not be made hostage to poor relations between the group’s two largest neighbours. Mr Sinha also told reporters in Kathmandu that Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf would be present at the annual UN General Assembly meeting in New York but stopped short of saying if they would meet for talks.Pakistan was less circumspect. “If Prime Minister Vajpayee wishes to meet President Musharraf, we will certainly welcome that,” Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Inamul Haq told Indian reporters when asked about the possibility of a meeting between the two leaders on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session. Delhi-based diplomats were optimistic that US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage would invite them to hold talks in New York where both are expected to be present to mark the Sept 11 tragedy that badly rattled the world. A Pakistani diplomat however said such a meeting was difficult to imagine given India’s stated policy on the issue.

The Hindu newspaper, reporting from the Kathmandu conference, said: “there were signs of forward movement in India-Pakistan relations”. It also spoke of Pakistan’s conciliatory approach. Significantly, The Hindu pointed out: “Mr Sinha said later that perhaps India and Pakistan could do something together” if Islamabad conceded that infiltration across the Line of Control was not in its hands. If Pakistan “came clean” on the issue, then there were possibilities such as joint patrolling of the LoC that opened up.”

It said Mr Haq told reporters separately that Pakistan was examining the situation following the Indian decision to lift the ban on overflights by India and would “come up with a decision”. Islamabad, he said, was “always ready” for an exchange of High Commissioners as well, The Hindu said.

On India’s proposal for joint patrolling, Mr Haq said: “In a situation where more than one million men are staring at each other across the LoC fully armed, it is rather difficult to imagine a situation where they will have sufficient confidence on each other to start joint patrolling.” Insisting that elections in Jammu and Kashmir were not a substitute of a solution to the problem or a plebiscite, he said, “Pakistan cannot accept the legality of such elections because they are contrary to UN Security Council resolution.” India considers the resolutions outdated.

Rowing back from remarks by senior Indian officials that appeared to put a question mark on next year’s summit of the seven-nation group in Islamabad, Sinha was quoted as saying that the Saarc summit would be held in Islamabad between Jan 5 and 20 next year.

Asked whether Mr Vajpayee would undertake the trip to Islamabad, if the current India-Pakistan tensions persisted, Mr Sinha said: “We must distinguish between Saarc and Indo-Pakistan relations.””Will the UN General Assembly not be held if there is a situation between India and Pakistan? We will both be there. Similarly, we can be there anywhere in the world,” he said.

Asked about the Pakistan minister’s suggestion for Musharraf- Vajpayee meeting and neutral mechanism at the LoC, Mr Sinha was quoted by the Press Trust of India as saying: “I am here for attending the meeting of Saarc. It is a multilateral forum.

Yesterday, I stated India’s position. I would not like to misuse the host facilities provided by Nepalese Government to discuss India-Pakistan relations.” “I am not responding to what he has said. This is not the place or the time for it. Whatever I say now will have an impact on Saarc. We don’t want the Saarc process to be affected adversely. That is India’s stated position,” Mr Sinha added.

He said: “If Inamul Haq has chosen to make some statements, let him make them. I will choose another time and another territory to respond to that. Not here. In any case, I am not having bilateral discussions. So why should I have bilateral discussions with him through the media.” Separately, Mr Haq was quoted as saying that India had to play a part in preventing militants crossing the LoC in Kashmir. “We have taken a position that we will not allow anybody across the LoC,” he told reporters.

But he added it was impossible to seal off the porous border and Indian security forces lined up on the borders should play a part in stopping militants from crossing over. “Why doesn’t India arrest infiltrators when they cross over?” he asked. “The onus cannot be laid on Pakistan,” Mr Haq was quoted as saying.