Indian, Pakistani leaders to meet

SHARM-EL-SHEIK, Egypt, July 14 (UPI) -- Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani are set to meet in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheik, officials said.

The Thursday meeting is intended to pave the way for the restart of peace talks between the two countries, which were suspended following the massacre last November in India's financial capital Mumbai in which about 180 died.

India had charged the attacks were planned in Pakistan and said the Pakistani government was not doing enough to bring those responsible to justice. Pakistan had insisted that India had not given sufficient proof to back its allegations.

Since then there have been numerous efforts by other nations, including the United States, to get India and Pakistan to resume the talks.

Egypt was chosen as the venue for the meeting because it will be hosting the summit of non-aligned countries. Before the leaders' meeting, the foreign secretaries of the two countries were to meet Tuesday.

Pakistan's Daily Times quoted diplomatic sources as saying Pakistan had made comprehensive preparations to convince India it was serious about bringing the alleged Mumbai attackers to justice.

The foreign secretaries' meeting would review the steps taken by Pakistan, according to Indian officials.

Times of India reported that in recent weeks India had been moving slowly toward resuming the talks, partly as a result of Pakistan declaring it would soon initiate the trial of five people accused in the Nov. 26 Mumbai attacks. They include Lashkar-e-Toiba commanders Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Zarar Shah, the report said.

The Singh-Gilani meeting comes about two months after Singh met Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari in Russia during a summit of developing countries.