Islamabad: Bringing expectations down, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha has said that a visit of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to Islamabad in January 2004 to attend the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) meet need not necessarily provide a platform for a summit between the Indian leader and Pakistani leadership.

"I am bringing expectations down, because everyone thinks that if Vajpayee travels to Islamabad for the SAARC, immediately summit-level dialogue will take place between India and Pakistan," Sinha said in an interview to a Pakistani daily.

A visit to Islamabad by Vajpayee to take part in the SAARC summit scheduled to be held in January 2004 would need not necessarily become the basis for a summit between Indian and Pakistani leadership, Sinha said in an interview to 'The News'.

"The point remains that there must be adequate preparation for a summit-level meeting, and clearly I don't see enough time between now and the January summit of SAARC for such a summit to take place," he said.

Sinha also made it clear that Pakistan should take further measures to prevent militants from crossing the Line of Control (LoC) and infiltrate into Jammu and Kashmir before India-Pak peace process gathered full pace. Referring to the current pace of the peace process initiated by Vajpayee five months ago, Sinha counselled patience.

"When you're dealing with relations between India and Pakistan, there is a need to be patient. I think impatience has spoiled things in the past, impatience may spoil things once again," he said.

PTI