Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif met in New York for the first time and discussed ways to normalise bilateral ties, in the grim backdrop of India's concerns over continued terrorism emanating from Pakistan. During the Sunday meeting on the sidelines of UN General Assembly, Singh raised the issue of terrorism emanating from Pakistani soil and asked Islamabad to do more to curb the cross-border terrorism. External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon and Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh were also present at the meeting. From Pakistani side, Sharif's Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz was among those who attended the meeting.

The talks came days after twin terror strikes near Jammu that left 10 people dead, mostly security personnel, virtually threatening the highest-level meeting between the two sides.

Singh, who was under pressure from opposition BJP to call off the meeting in the wake of attacks, went ahead with the talks, saying such strikes cannot derail the dialogue process.

However, in a hard-hitting speech at the UN General Assembly on Saturday, Singh asked Pakistan to shut down "terrorist machinery" on its soil while making it clear that there can "never, ever" be a compromise on the territorial integrity of India of which Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part. He virtually rejected Sharif's demand for resolution of the Kashmir issue on the basis of UN Security Council resolutions, saying India favoured settlement of all issues on the basis of the Simla Agreement.

Source: Econimic Times