Pakistan Snubs India
Zardari forgets NAM after Singh slap

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has opted out of the NAM summit in Egypt in an apparent bid to avoid meeting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who had delivered him a tough message on cross-border terrorism in Russia this week.Instead of Mr Zardari, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani will now attend the NAM summit.

This latest development, which could be translated as a snub to India, comes after Prime Mr Singh met Mr Zardari on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Russia this week and delivered a tough message on terror in full media glare.

Mr Singh had told Mr Zardari that his mandate was to deliver the message that Pakistan should not allow its soil to be used for terrorism against India. This statement was made in the full glare of the media much to the embarrassment of Mr Zardari.

Nevertheless, both India and Pakistan after the meeting had announced that the two leaders would have a repeat meeting on the sidelines of the NAM summit in Egypt.

But Mr Singh’s blunt message was clearly not well received in Pakistan. In an indication of the domestic pressure at play, members of the Pakistani Senate had said that Islamabad should react strongly to Mr Singh’s statement to Mr Zardari before the media. The Senate was also planning to move a resolution on the matter.