Islamabad: Pakistan has said it is hopeful that Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee would take a decision on attending the South Asian Association for Regional Co- operation (SAARC) summit after Assembly elections in Gujarat.

Vajpayee's decision to visit Islamabad at present appeared to have been linked to the internal political situation in India, specially to elections in Gujarat which were to be held on December 12, Pakistan Foreign Minister, Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri, said in an interview to local private Television 'Geo' on December 2.

"It looks Vajpayee would come up with his decision regarding SAARC summit after December 12," he said, a day after Vajpayee asserted that he would consider attending the SAARC summit if Pakistan completely stopped cross-border terrorism before the event.

Pakistan has proposed January 11-13 for the summit.

Referring to the tensions between the two countries, Kasuri reiterated that India followed 'coercive diplomacy' to pressurise Pakistan.

Virtually defending President Pervez Musharraf's policy towards India, he said both Vajpayee and Musharraf were close to signing an agreement in Agra but the talks collapsed at the last moment as 'some elements' in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) did not want improvement in bilateral ties for their 'vested interests'.

PTI