The New Nation - Internet Edition

Agencies

The prime ministers of India and Pakistan are set to meet on the sidelines of a regional summit in Sri Lanka, amid a worsening political row.

Pakistan has denied allegations its spies helped bomb the Indian embassy in Afghanistan, and there have been renewed border tensions over Kashmir.

The row threatens to overshadow the South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (Saarc) summit in

Colombo. Eight nations are meeting to discuss issues including terrorism and poverty.

Leaders from Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Bhutan, Nepal and Afghanistan are involved in the talks, along with the Indian and Pakistani prime ministers.

On Friday, Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon said dialogue with Pakistan was in "a state where it hasn't been in the past four years".

"We face a situation where things have happened in the recent past which were unfortunate," he said.

Officials from India and Afghanistan have publicly accused elements in Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of involvement in last month's Kabul embassy attack, which killed 41 people and injured 141.

On Friday, newspaper reports in the US quoted Washington sources levelling the same accusations against the ISI.

Pakistan's Foreign Ministry issued another denial, describing the claims as "total rubbish".

Tensions between Pakistan and India - Saarc's biggest and most powerful members - have also been exacerbated by continued hostilities in the disputed border area of Kashmir.

India has accused Pakistan of violating a ceasefire accord in Kashmir, and troops from both sides traded gunfire earlier this week.