Islamabad: Extradition of terrorists, measures to choke financing of terrorism and money laundering are among the major obligations SAARC countries will have to fulfil under a comprehensive protocol on terrorism agreed to by them, laying the foundation for "historic" summit of the seven nations beginning Sunday (Jan 4, 2004).

India's Foreign Secretary Shashank told reporters today (Jan 2) that the SAARC Foreign Ministers, who reached an agreement on an eleven-page Additional Protocol on Terrorism, had expressed the view that this document along with South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) Agreement arrived at last night had paved the way for a historic summit. The decisions were "momentous".

Serious differences between India and Pakistan over the definition of terrorism had held up for over two years the Additional Protocol to the SAARC Convention on Terrorism but External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha and other Foreign Ministers have now agreed on this document, which calls for mutual legal assistance in dealing with terrorism, co-operation among law enforcement authorities, domestic measures against terrorism as well as denial of refugee status to terrorists.

The guessing game on whether Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will have bilateral discussions with President Pervez Musharraf or his Pakistani counterpart Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali continues but Indian officials see the protocol on terrorism and agreement on SAFTA as positive developments which would contribute to progress on bilateral matters.

For the record, the Foreign Secretary maintained that no meeting between Vajpayee, who arrives in Islamabad tomorrow evening, and Pakistani leaders had been fixed. He saw a positive mindset on the part of Pakistan in regard to terrorism and noted that the host country as well as other nations had shown flexibility and sincerity of purpose in reaching agreement on several documents which would be signed in the concluding session of the summit on January 6.