12 January 2005	Wednesday	01 Zilhaj 1425

NEW DELHI, Jan 11: Pakistan's national security adviser Tariq Aziz visited New Delhi quietly on Monday ostensibly to pay homage to his Indian counterpart Jyotindra Nath Dixit who passed away on Jan 3 , but left much of the Indian capital speculating about the next steps in bilateral ties, official sources said on Tuesday.

The Indian Express, which picked up the scent of Mr Aziz's visit, said he was here to "work the back channels" ahead of Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh's visit to Islamabad next month.

"Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan's Shaukat Aziz are also expected to meet at Saarc summit in Dhaka," the Express report further added. A separate news report claimed Mr Aziz was accompanied by Pakistan's High Commissioner Aziz Ahmed Khan when the two visited Mr Dixit's widow, Annapurna, with whom they spent 40 minutes condoling with her.

High ranking Pakistan officials said they were clueless about the visit until late on Monday afternoon when Mr Aziz was due to catch his flight back to Pakistan. There was some speculation that the news of the arrival was leaked by the Indian side and Mr Aziz was surprised by a TV camera at Mr Dixit's residence.

There was no explanation however from either side as to why a mere condolence visit was sought to be kept under such tight wraps. According to the Express Mr Aziz flew into New Delhi on Monday morning on board an executive jet, landing at 10.42am and exiting at 5.43pm to convey President Pervez Musharraf's condolence on the loss of lives in the tsunami disaster.

He also offered personal condolences to Dixit's widow, the paper said. "Though the Indian government remained silent on the visit, it is learnt that he met Manmohan Singh and Natwar Singh."

The paper quoted its sources as saying that Mr Aziz did not have a one-to-one meeting with M.K. Narayanan, the interim NSA, who was briefed over the weekend on diplomatic manoeuvres with Pakistan.

Mr Aziz also wanted to meet former NSA Brajesh Mishra but that meeting was deferred at the last minute. "Aziz apparently phoned Mishra on Friday night to fix a Monday meeting. But on Sunday night, the prime minister's office informed Mishra that the Aziz visit was limited to conveying condolence messages," according to the paper.