ISLAMABAD, Nov 26: Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha on Tuesday felicitated their new counterparts in Islamabad in separate but similar messages.

The congratulatory messages for Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali and Foreign Minister Mian Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri were communicated to the Foreign Office in the morning, India’s Deputy High Commissioner Sudhir Vyas told Dawn.

He said the messages were dated November 25. The same day Mr Kasuri had declared in an interview with Dawn that improving relations with India would be the new government’s top priority and he had wished peace and prosperity to the people of India.

However, none of the two messages from New Delhi carried any hint of forward-looking relations with the government in Islamabad.

The three liner messages signalled that India was in no mood to engage with Pakistan at the moment.

The expected exchange of goodwill messages from Pakistan and India has been sullied by the recent attack on a temple in occupied Kashmir that Pakistan has condemned.

Mr Vyas had nothing definitive to say when asked if the messages were indicative of an imminent or positive response from New Delhi on the Saarc summit. “I don’t have anything on that yet and I can’t tell you anything.” When pressed hard he said: “I have nothing more to add”.

Mr Vyas was non-committal when asked to confirm a report that India had invited Pakistan to send its experts to inspect the site of the controversial Baglihar hydro project on the Chenab River. “It is a technical matter and I have no first-hand information on it,” he maintained.

AFP adds: “I would like to convey on behalf of my government, and on my own behalf, our felicitations and best wishes to you on your appointment as prime minister,” Mr Vajpayee wrote, according to a statement issued by the Pakistan’s foreign ministry.