INDIA?S Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistan?s Zafarullah Khan Jamali met alone on the sidelines of a regional summit in a gesture of rapprochement.

Earlier Vajpayee used the opening ceremony of a summit of the seven-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) to call for a ?bold transition? to peace after a half-century of conflict and mistrust.

?We have to change South Asia?s image and its standing in the world,? Vajpayee said. ?We must make the bold transition from mistrust to trust, from discord to concord and from tension to peace,? he continued, to applause.

India?s Foreign Minister said the Prime Ministers ?agreed to maintain the momentum? during their meeting. And, in a further sign of progress, Yashwant Sinha told reporters Vajpayee had requested a meeting with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, the country?s real power.

Vajpayee, paying his first visit to Pakistan in almost five years, shook hands and smiled with Jamali in front of television cameras and photographers before the meeting.

?Let me tell you Mr Vajpayee is holding my hand very, very firmly,? Jamali said with a smile. He added that he had great respect for the Indian leader. ?He is a visionary, a poet, a prolific writer and an able politician, which are the qualities of a true leader.?

Greater economic integration

Pakistan?s Prime Minister said greater economic integration in South Asia would remain a ?distant dream? unless the region?s heavyweights could resolve their differences.

Two years ago India and Pakistan went to the brink of war over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.

Vajpayee and Jamil talked together with aides before meeting alone. ?It was a good meeting,? Pakistan Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri said.

Sinha said Vajpayee?s meeting with Musharraf was requested for today. The two were scheduled to meet at a state dinner yesterday. They last met at a failed summit in the Indian city of Agra in July 2001, and briefly shook hands at a South Asian summit in Nepal two years ago, but are not known to have had any contact since then.

?Final bid for peace?

Vajpayee spoke to Jamali by telephone last year shortly after launching what he called a final bid for peace in his lifetime. The two sides have since resumed full diplomatic ties and resumed transport links. The peace process was bolstered in November when Pakistani announced a ceasefire along the front line in Kashmir, which has since held. However, violence has continued in Indian-held Kashmir between security forces and Muslim rebels and diplomats warn the peace process remains fragile.

During their three-day summit, South Asia leaders are expected to approve a regional free trade deal that is in itself seen as a sign of improving India-Pakistan ties. Before arriving in Islamabad, Vajpayee said he was willing to talk ?openly? about Kashmir but stressed that resolution of the issue would take time.

Musharraf said last month Pakistan was ready to set aside a 50-year insistence on a UN-backed referendum over Kashmir and explore other solutions.

Pakistan, accused by India of fomenting rebellion in Indian-controlled Kashmir, is using the sidelines of the summit to push for a formal dialogue on Kashmir and other issues, something India has resisted since a December 2001 attack on its parliament that it blamed on Pakistan-backed militants. Around a million troops were massed on the India-Pakistan border in the aftermath of that attack and last year?s SAARC summit was cancelled as a result.

This year?s summit has been held amid unprecedented security following two attempts to assassinate Musharraf last month blamed on militant Muslims opposed to Pakistan?s role in the US-led ?war on terror? as well as any compromise with India.

As well as the trade deal, supposed to take effect at the start of 2006 to boost trade among the region?s 1.4 billion people, or about a fifth of humanity, SAARC leaders are to sign a a protocol on combating terrorism and a social charter laying out targets for poverty alleviation, human rights and health. SAARC also includes Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka.

Tahir Ikram & Sanjeev Miglani