Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Friday he was looking forward to meeting Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif at the weekend, but said expectations for the talks should be toned down.
Singh and Sharif are expected to hold a meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Saturday, as they reach for better relations despite heightened cross border tensions.
“I look forward to the meeting with … Nawaz Sharif even though the expectations have to be toned down,” Singh told reporters in the Oval Office after he met US President Barack Obama.
Singh told Obama that India was facing difficulties because the “epicentre of terrorist activity remains focused in Pakistan.”
Deadly skirmishes across the de facto border in divided Kashmir have jeopardized plans for the meeting in New York, which would come months after peace talks again stalled between the two neighbours.
Since winning an election in May, Sharif has been vocal in his desire for better relations with India, but the recent flare-ups have overshadowed the prospects.