NEW DELHI, Dec 22: The national security advisers of India and Pakistan will not meet before the Jan 9-11 Saarc summit in Dhaka, allowing their leaders instead to set the agenda for them after the foreign secretaries' talks starting in Islamabad on Monday , informed sources said on Wednesday.

The revelations came as senior foreign ministry officials of the two sides braced for their foreign secretaries' meeting on Jan 27 and 28. There was some speculation in New Delhi on Wednesday whether President General Pervez Musharraf would represent Pakistan at the summit instead of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.

There have been reports that US Secretary of State Colin Powell had expressed the hope for a Musharraf-Manmohan meeting in Dhaka. The sources in New Delhi told Dawn that Indian National Security Adviser Jyotindra Nath Dixit would be in Dhaka with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, possibly to have a face to face meeting with Tariq Aziz, his Pakistani counterpart, there.

News reports in India and Pakistan had speculated a meeting between the two in Kathmandu on Dec 24 or thereabout. "There is no meeting planned at that level before Dhaka," one official close to the several Aziz-Dixit talks said.

The Indian team headed by Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran and including Arun Singh, point man for Pakistan at the Indian foreign ministry from the Vajpayee-era, is expected to leave on Saturday for Islamabad for Mr Saran's meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Riaz Khokhar.

A great deal of significance was attached recently to the Dixit-Aziz talks, of which there have been a few at unidentified venues and on undisclosed dates. The two countries are not believed to have made much progress on any of the major issues discussed in the first round of Composite Dialogue process.

Some observes believe the two would move forward on the crucial issues like Kashmir, Siachen and Sir Creek during the second round. Indian news reports said Mr Powell's comments came after his meeting with Gen Musharraf during the latter's recent trip to the United States.