Manmohan, Gilani hold talks in Maldives

Amid talks of the shrinking ‘trust deficit’ between the two countries, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of the SAARC summit here on Thursday.

The two Prime Ministers met in a beach cottage in Shangrilla resort along the Indian Ocean and reviewed progress in bilateral ties against the backdrop of some positive developments witnessed lately.

The bilateral relations between the neighbours has been on an upswing like Pakistan's decision to grant the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) trade status to India and the release of an Indian helicopter that had strayed into Pakistani territory.

They are said to have discussed a whole range of issues, including the need for Islamabad to take action against the 26/11 perpetrators and build on the MFN status to India.

The issue of Jamaat-ud-Dawah being removed from the terror list may also have been touched upon.

Before the meeting, the two Prime Ministers shook hands and posed for photos.

Following the handshake, the two leaders held a brief delegation level talks after which they met separately.

The Indian side included External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon and Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai.

From the Pakistani side, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir and Interior Minister Rehman Malik were among those present.

The two leaders met ahead of the inauguration of the two-day summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation in the Addu atoll islands.

The meeting between Singh and Gilani comes after they met in March in Mohali on the margins of the Indo-Pak World Cup semi-final tie.

Prior to the big meeting, the Foreign Secretaries of the two countries met early today to finalise the agenda of the talks. It was the second meeting between the foreign secretaries in as many days.

Foreign Minister SM Krishna had also met Hina Rabbani Khar at least thrice yesterday.

Gilani: MFN to India is fine but Pak would support Kashmir

Pakistan may have granted Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India but stands by its stance on Kashmir, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told ministers in his cabinet.

According to Minister for Information and Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan, Gilani had told the cabinet that Pakistan would always continue its support for the Kashmir cause and granting MFN status for India would not affect the national stance.

Pakistan would never budge on its stance on Kashmir and would continue its unflinching political, moral and diplomatic support for the cause of Kashmiris, Awan said on Wednesday.

She said that there was no question of any compromise on Pakistan's stand on Kashmir, reported Associated Press of Pakistan.

Citing China's example, Awan said Beijing and India have territorial disputes, but the two countries have expanded their trade in the recent past.

Pakistan on Wednesday granted MFN status to India, reciprocating a 15-year-old gesture.

India had given Pakistan the MFN status in 1996 but Islamabad did not respond positively. Ties between the two countries deteriorated after the Mumbai terror attack in 2008 for which Pakistan was blamed.

Awan said Indian goods are being smuggled into Pakistan, causing a loss to the national exchequer and Islamabad has legalised trade by giving India MFN status.

According to a think-tank, the country will save USD 800 million per annum in terms of trade with India, the minister added.

The cabinet, which met here on Wednesday, was briefed on the steps being taken for normalisation of trade with India.

The cabinet directed the Commerce Ministry to ensure that Pakistan's vital national economic interests are fully protected.

Raza Gilani: Pakistan will recognise new govt in Libya

Pakistan Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has said that his country will recognise the new government in Libya.

The Express Tribune quoted Gilani as saying that Pakistan believes in the sovereignty and independence of all countries, and does not interfere in the internal affairs of any country.

It was reported earlier that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) had asked the government to recognise the National Transitional Council (NTC) government in Libya that has taken control after overthrowing the regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

In a letter written to Gilani, PML-N Senator Ishaq Dar warned that lives and jobs of over 55,000 Pakistani expatriates would be highly vulnerable if there is a further delay in recognising the council.

On August 25 this year, the Libyan envoy in Islamabad, Ibrahim al Ebad, removed the Gaddafi regime’s green coloured flag, and hoisted the de facto flag of Libya, used by the National Transitional Council at the Libyan embassy in Islamabad. According to official sources, however, the Libyan ambassador hoisted the new flag without the prior approval of the Pakistani government.

“It was mandatory for the Libyan ambassador to obtain prior permission from Islamabad to hoist the new flag of his country,” an official said.

Pak PM calls all-party meet to discuss US ties

In the wake of the souring ties with the US, Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Thursday is scheduled to convene an all-party meeting to be attended by representatives of Pakistan's military and intelligence agencies.

The conference is expected to discuss Pakistan-US ties and the country's security situation.

According to reports, ISI chief Ahmed Shuja Pasha would also be present and he may brief the political leadership on security issues.

Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar is expected to refute US accusations of Pakistan's complicity on terrorism.

Leaders of all political parties, including those not represented in Parliament, and heads of religious groups have been invited for the crucial meeting, sources said.

Washington accuses Pakistan's powerful ISI spy agency of directly backing the Afghan Taliban-allied Haqqani network and of providing support for the September 13 attack on the US Kabul mission.

Pakistan furiously rejected the allegations and warned the United States that it risked losing an ally if it kept publicly criticising Pakistan over the militant groups.

To offset its troubled alliance with the United States, Pakistan has even promised China maximum support in fighting Muslim separatists, determined to keep relations with its key ally on track.

About 5,000 soldiers and security forces have been killed fighting militants and 30,000 civilians have died since Pakistan joined the US "war on terror" launched after the September 11, 2001 attacks, which the United States doesn't appreciate, Pakistani officials say.

President Obama refused to meet Pak PM

Pakistan Premier Yousuf Raza Gilani called off at the eleventh hour his planned visit to the US after President Barack Obama refused to meet him on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session, a media report said on today.

The Prime Minister's House announced yesterday that Gilani had called off his visit as he intended to personally supervise relief operations in flood-hit areas of Sindh, but the Dawn newspaper quoted its sources as saying that one reason for the move was the US President's "refusal to meet" Gilani on the sidelines of the UN session in New York.

Gilani has now directed Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar to represent Pakistan at the UN General Assembly session.

There were indications that the strained relations between Pakistan and the US had led to Gilani cancelling his trip to America, where he was to address the UN General Assembly session, the daily reported.

The Pakistan embassy in Washington and the Consulate General in New York had "tried hard to arrange a meeting between Prime Minister Gilani and President Barack Obama but failed," the report said.

The visit was cancelled at the "eleventh hour" and "all arrangements related to the trip, such as issuance of tickets to members of the delegation and their hotel bookings in New York, had been finalised," the report said.

"Supervision of flood relief efforts is an excuse, because only this week the Prime Minister had a couple of days' trip to Iran," a journalist, who was to accompany Gilani to New York, was quoted as saying.

Gilani had yesterday responded to the US criticism of Pakistan's efforts in the war on terror by saying that it was "now time that they (United States) should do more" in the campaign against terrorists.

He said Pakistan had "sacrificed much in battling the menace of terrorism" and the country should not be "pressurised to do more."

Pakistan-US relations hit a new low after the covert US raid that killed al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in the garrison city of Abbottabad in May.

US officials, including Vice President Joe Biden and Defence Secretary Leon Panetta, have recently called on Pakistan to do more against terrorists.

Panetta blamed Pakistan-based militants for the latest Taliban attack on the US embassy in Kabul while Biden described Pakistan as an unreliable ally in the war on terror.

The US has renewed pressure on Pakistan to act against the Haqqani network, which has been linked to the attack on the American embassy in Kabul.

The US says the Haqqani network of Taliban has safe havens in Pakistan's tribal belt near the Afghan border.

Pakistan, US struggle to define their relationship

In the aftermath of the secret US raid to kill Osama bin Laden, Pakistani officials want a detailed agreement spelling out US rules of engagement inside Pakistan, officials in both countries say, but Washington's refusal to sign a binding document threatens to create another point of friction in the long-troubled relationship.

It will take some time for Pakistan to improve relations with the US, seriously strained after the Osama bin Laden’s killing, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Wednesday.

Pakistan military officials want the US to sign what is called a "memorandum of understanding”, an agreement they want to include such details as the number of CIA operatives working in Pakistan, notification before US drone strikes, intelligence gathered and a written promise about Pakistan's role if al Qaeda's new leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, is found in Pakistan.

The surge in trouble this year between Pakistan and the US began with the February killing of two Pakistanis by Raymond Davis, a CIA-contracted American spy working without Pakistan's knowledge. Davis pleaded self-defence but it took weeks of wrangling before he was released in exchange for so-called "blood money" paid to the dead men's relatives.

The bin Laden raid further infuriated the Pakistani military, which saw it as a violation of Pakistani sovereignty, and it now feels it needs the agreement to ensure it would be involved in — or be able to stop — any similar US attacks in the future. The agreement would also allay fears in Islamabad that the CIA is operating behind Pakistan's back, and shore up the military's reputation, which was badly battered when the US helicopters slipped into Pakistan air space undetected for the bin Laden attack.

But former and current American officials say the US will not commit any specifics to paper because it could limit the flexibility of its operations. Instead, the US is preparing a broad statement of principles that could be completed in the coming weeks.

Another senior US official said that while Pakistan would not get all the information it wants about US intelligence operations, it gets much more than Washington gives most other countries.

Similar negotiations are taking place between the US and Afghanistan, with Afghan officials seeking detailed guarantees on the future of US troops and aid, but Americans insisting on a vague agreement.

In Pakistan, the US is negotiating with the civilian government, it's not clear whether the country's powerful military establishment would veto a broad statement of principles.

Relations between Pakistan's spy agency, the ISI, which falls under the military command, and the CIA hit rock bottom after the bin Laden raid. Pakistanis were particularly angered by then-CIA director Leon Panetta's stinging comments the ISI was either incompetent or complicit in not finding bin Laden, who was hiding not far from Islamabad. Two senior Pakistani officials, including a former security officer, said Panetta sought to assuage Pakistan Army Chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani with an apology following those statements.

Pakistan, US struggle to define their relationship Yet Panetta's words continue to reverberate. Pakistani officials fret that there were will be repeat of the bin Laden raid if al-Zawahri is found in Pakistan. They also worry about the new director of the CIA, David Petraeus, who Pakistani officials say has a frosty relationship with Kayani.

Petraeus wanted the ability to take the fight into Pakistan while serving as military commander in Afghanistan, according to a Pakistani official says and a former senior US official. Now that he has the authority to run covert operations at the CIA, the Pakistani official says his government fears he might decide to ramp up unilateral operations in Pakistan.

Without an agreement, Pakistani officials say there were will only be an atmosphere of distrust.

But US officials counter that while relations have sunk very low, the CIA and the ISI have never stopped sharing intelligence, with one saying the relationship is getting "incrementally better”. They point to information sharing with the FBI from local law enforcement after the August 13 kidnapping of an American in the Pakistani city of Lahore.

And on important fronts like securing Pakistan's nuclear weapons, the US and Pakistan continue to cooperate.