Atal reaches Islamabad

PM is in Pak to attend the SAARC Summit beginning tomorrow.

Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee was given a state welcome when he arrived in Islamabad on Saturday.

Vajpayee was welcomed by Pakistani Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali, Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz, top brass and senior officials when he flew in to the heavily guarded airport on a flight from New Delhi just before 3:30 pm.

A guard of honour and military band playing India's national anthem greeted the Indian leader, who has come to Islamabad to attend a landmark seven-nation SAARC summit starting on Sunday.

Vajpayee and Jamali held hands and waved jointly to cameras as they left the tarmac.

The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit is being seen as an historic opportunity to propel peace moves initiated eight months ago by the Prime Minister.