Kebabs, Biryani, and Masala Dosa for Zardari

The lunch Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hosted for Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari was marked with bonhomie with guests discussing ways to further bilateral ties over a delicious spread that included kebabs, biryani and masala dosa.

It began a little late as the one-on-one talks between Singh and Zardari stretched beyond the schedule time.

Rahul Gandhi was seated next to Pakistan Peoples' Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto and the two leaders were seen talking frequently through the 50-minute lunch.

"Prez n I enjoyed lunch with Rahul Gandhi and PM Singh. lovely meal. Much to learn from each other," Bilawal posted on micro-blogging site Twitter.

Home Minister P Chidambaram was seen exchanging notes with his Pakistan counterpart Rehman Malik at the long table decorated with flower vases and silver cutlery.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi was also invited but she is learnt to have sent her regrets.

The talk about Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed also continued over lunch and Zardari pointed out to the Prime Minister that the terror mastermind was arrested four times and released by court every time, sources said.

Zardari was also keen to know from Singh how India managed to have better trade relations with China with whom it had a boundary dispute.

The Prime Minister is understood to have told Zardari that India and China have worked out a mechanism to manage the boundary dispute.

Singh said that could be a good framework to take forward the trade relations. It is learnt that the two leaders were keen to double bilateral trade by 2014.

Defence Minister A K Antony, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj, BJP leader L K Advani, Water Resources Minister P K Bansal, National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon, Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai were among those present from the Indian side.

Swaraj also tweeted about the lunch saying that the Prime Minister asked Zardari to pray for peace in both the countries at the shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti in Ajmer.

"Towards the end of lunch, Prime Minister told President Zardari that since he was going to Ajmersharif, he should pray before Khwaja sahib for peace in both our countries," Swaraj said on Twitter.

"President Zardari promised to do that," she said.

The Prime Minister has also sent a 'chadar' with Bansal, who is the minister-in-waiting for Zardari, to be offered at Ajmer sharif dargah.

http://news.outlookindia.com/items.aspx?artid=758910

in other news, Zardari has donated Rs 5 crore to the Ajmer Sharif dargah (shrine of the sufi saint Khwaja Moin ud din Chishti). When Musharraf had come here, he had donated a paltry ten thousand rupees.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/With-Rs-5-crore-Zardari-tops-Ajmer-dargah-gifts-list/articleshow/12603460.cms

listen, indians are very hospitable by nature. and when it comes to pakistani guests, we fall over each other to please them. you don't believe it?

more here - http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/ajmal-kasab-s-security-food-and-medical-bills-cost-maharashtra-govt-over-rs-25-crores-196451


25 crores.

Another Brick wrote:more here - http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/ajmal-kasab-s-security-food-and-medical-bills-cost-maharashtra-govt-over-rs-25-crores-196451


25 crores.

terrorist-jail integration is expensive indeed. but we must try to win over our enemies with kindness - pakis will be shamed into stopped terrorist incidents when they know how indian system treats everyone paki terrorists with kindness.

Propagandhi711 wrote:

Another Brick wrote:more here - http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/ajmal-kasab-s-security-food-and-medical-bills-cost-maharashtra-govt-over-rs-25-crores-196451


25 crores.

terrorist-jail integration is expensive indeed. but we must try to win over our enemies with kindness - pakis will be shamed into stopped terrorist incidents when they know how indian system treats everyone paki terrorists with kindness.

second that. i say, we must marry kasab babu with some bollywood starlet (Hindu preferred) so that we can kill two birds in one stone. india-paki and hindu-muslim.

Another Brick wrote:

Propagandhi711 wrote:

Another Brick wrote:more here - http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/ajmal-kasab-s-security-food-and-medical-bills-cost-maharashtra-govt-over-rs-25-crores-196451


25 crores.

terrorist-jail integration is expensive indeed. but we must try to win over our enemies with kindness - pakis will be shamed into stopped terrorist incidents when they know how indian system treats everyone paki terrorists with kindness.

second that. i say, we must marry kasab babu with some bollywood starlet (Hindu preferred) so that we can kill two birds in one stone. india-paki and hindu-muslim.

we should get some of the bollywood integrationists to make over kasab so he stands as a tragic figure that did some minor bad things in youthful verve but subsequently reformed in jail under loving tutelage of a stern-yet-fair warden and became a qawaali singing sufi kaka in his latter years. most of our population will buy such a theme and cry into their rumals. this will further more cordial paki-indian relations in the future.

hahaha @ qawwali-singing-sufi kaka. if mahesh bhatt reads your post, he will promptly make a movie on that theme but will not thank you, the shameless thief that he is. indian govt will make such a movie tax-free and may even include it in the FTII syllabus.

Propagandhi711 wrote:did some minor bad things in youthful verve

One key question is whether there was some kind of provocation that made him do what he did. Were people making fun of his name or his perceived lack of intelligence? Was it in the middle of a heated day that he shot people? Was in the middle of a heated city that he went berserk? Any of those things, if true, make his crimes seem like minor misdemeanors that are best forgotten.

charvaka wrote:

Propagandhi711 wrote:did some minor bad things in youthful verve

One key question is whether there was some kind of provocation that made him do what he did. Were people making fun of his name or his perceived lack of intelligence? Was it in the middle of a heated day that he shot people? Was in the middle of a heated city that he went berserk? Any of those things, if true, make his crimes seem like minor misdemeanors that are best forgotten.

he must be a UPite if excessive afternoon heat causes temper flareups and provokes excessive reaction in the tradition of diggy raja and katju. he should be unconditionally pardoned on that account and released immediately.

another key question: what would akbar do to kasab?