NEW YORK, Aug 28: A one-to-one meeting between Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and President Gen Pervez Musharraf on the sidelines of United Nations General Assembly session is not a possibility at this point in time, top officials and experts here said on Wednesday.

Although Pakistani diplomats and officials assert Islamabad’s offer of a bilateral meeting is still on the table, ‘we will not beg for it’, but the Indian’s have rejected all efforts by international community saying that time is not right for such a meeting.

“Last year when UN Secretary General Kofi Annan had tried to arrange an impromptu meeting between the two leaders at the luncheon hosted by him for the world leaders by putting both leaders at a table together, Indian prime minister skipped the luncheon deliberately ,” a diplomat here pointed out.

While both leaders have been scheduled to meet with US President George Bush separately in New York, but the United States has not pressed the Indians hard enough to agree for such a meeting.

Besides meeting with Mr Bush, both leaders may also meet US Secretary of State Colin Powell, who recently riled the Indian leadership by stating in India that ‘Kashmir is on international community’s agenda.’

Most of the US leaders will be in New York during the week to commemorate Sept 11 attacks and pay tributes to the fallen New York City’s firemen and police officers.

Following the latest mission to India and Pakistan by US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, speculation of a meeting between the leaders of India and Pakistan at the sidelines of the UN session have emerged.

Although Mr Armitage issued an upbeat assessment about the situation along the India and Pakistan borders, both countries have rejected his appraisal of the situation. Both countries have over a million troops eyeballing each other and the situation remains tenuous at best.

The experts here say that the economic cost of such a massive standoff is mind boggling, and the impact could undermine the economies of both countries for some time to come.

India, they said, would like to await the outcome of the September-October elections in the occupied Jammu and Kashmir and also wait for the outcome of elections in Pakistan before deciding to launch into any bilateral talks with Pakistan.

The Indian premier, if his health allows him, may lead a huge team to the UN General Assembly session with a view to impress upon the world that ‘cross-border terrorism’ has made it impossible for any talks with Pakistan.

The diplomats here believe that India would launch a massive propaganda blitz during the UN session to undermine Pakistan’s position touting its democratic institutions and ridiculing the military leadership in Pakistan.

Mr Musharraf who usually brings a small delegation with him would have his job cut out for him.

According to Pakistani officials here, besides holding bilateral talks with his US counterpart, Gen Musharraf has several one-to-one meetings scheduled with the other world leaders including the president of South Africa.