December 21, 2003	Sunday	Shawwal 26, 1424

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NEW DELHI, Dec 20: Pakistan’s High Commissioner Aziz Ahmed Khan on Saturday met Indian Prime Minister Vajpayee in what both sides described as a courtesy call, but the much-awaited meeting was believed to bear the promise of a vastly improved atmosphere for next month’s Saarc summit in Islamabad.

Officials in New Delhi were tight-lipped about the exact nature of the discussions at Mr Khan’s first bilateral meeting with the prime minister, but it was significant that the envoy was scheduled to leave for Islamabad immediately, possibly on Monday, for consultations pertaining to the Jan 4-6 summit.

Both sides declined to say if Mr Khan was carrying a message from Mr Vajpayee to his Pakistani counterpart Mir Zafarullah Jamali, but they did not rule out the possibility either. They said the talks were positive.

According to the official sources, it was almost certain that President Pervez Musharraf would find at least two occasions when he was face to face with Mr Vajpayee. Gen Musharraf is expected to host a banquet for the Saarc leaders and also accept a collective call by the six heads, said to be a Saarc convention.

Mr Khan had sought the meeting with Mr Vajpayee soon after he presented his credentials to President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on July 10. Mr Khan arrived in New Delhi on June 30.

The call coincided with an interview on an Indian TV channel of Foreign Minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri, in which he promised some major but unstated progress at the Saarc summit.

“The Saarc summit should not just generate the feelings of friendship, which I hope it will. Even if it does that, it will achieve its purpose. I hope it will leave something more concrete,” he said.

“I don’t wish to say at this time, but I have something in my mind. I don’t want to go on record because if it does not happen, I will be disappointed and so will be others. I have a feeling that this Saarc summit is going to be an important one,” he added.