NEW DELHI, Nov 9: The controversial killing of two men in a Delhi shopping complex last week could be the final act in the slow murder of the Saarc summit otherwise due to be held in Islamabad in January, diplomats said here on Saturday.

They said India did not appear to agree to a summit as early as January owing to its domestic political compulsions.

A key election in December in Gujarat where opposition groups are being described by the rightwing Hindu establishment as children of President Pervez Musharraf, was a major calculation holding up New Delhi’s decision to send Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to Islamabad.

The killing of two men by Delhi police at the Ansal Plaza complex on Nov 3 “is the strongest signal yet that India does not want to go ahead with the January summit,” one neutral diplomat said.

Pakistani diplomats said barring India and Bhutan all other Saarc members had notified their willingness to participate in the January 11-13 meeting.

“If we don’t hear from the Indian government soon, say by the middle of this month, we may have to shelve the summit,” one diplomat said. “Organizing a Saarc meet requires time and detailed programming. It will not be easy to just do it at a minute’s notice.”

Indian officials have described the two dead men as Pakistani terrorists, a charge denied by Islamabad’s diplomats, who say the police faked the shootout and that there was no evidence that the dead men were Pakistanis.

The key eyewitness in the incident, who has described the killing as stage-managed, held a press conference on Saturday.

Dr Hari Krishna, who has been in hiding for the past few days, stuck to his stand and accused the Delhi police of trying to intimidate him. Police have dug up some dirt on the man.

He said: “These are all old cases. Why are they bringing them up now? I am afraid they will arrest me and may even kill me. I am the only eyewitness and they are all out to get me.”