Islamabad, June 25 (IANS) Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram and his Pakistani counterpart Rehman Malik Friday began bilateral talks, with the latter saying that they are meeting with an ‘open heart’.
‘We are meeting with an open heart,’ Malik told Pakistani reporters before Chidambaram flew into Islamabad for bilateral and regional talks.
Wearing his trademark spotless white shirt and dhoti, Chidambaram was received at the Chakala airbase here by Malik, dressed in business-like suit.
Chidambaram is here to attend the SAARC home ministers’ conference Saturday.
The Indian minister is expected to talk to Malik on many issues, including terrorism and New Delhi’s persistent demand for the prosecution of Hafiz Saeed, the alleged Pakistani mastermind of the Mumbai terror attack.
Earlier, Indian Home Secretary G.K. Pillai told reporters: ‘Hafez Saeed’s issue will be taken up during the talks.’
Pillai added that the Mumbai attack of November 2008, blamed on Pakistani terrorists and which left 166 Indians and foreigners dead, would figure in the Malik-Chidambaram talks.
‘We will satisfy the Indians’ on Hafez Saeed, Minister Malik said before Chidambaram’s arrival.
The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) groups Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Nepal, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.
