In Islamabad, SAARC's the word for Rajnath Singh, not Pakistan

India will stay away from bilateral talks with Pakistan and instead use the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Interior Ministers' Conference to drive home its concerns to member-countries during Union home minister Rajnath Singh's two-day visit.

The visit affords no occasion for bilateral talks, minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju said. "He (Rajnath Singh) is going to Pakistan for the SAARC conference. It's a multilateral, not bilateral meeting," said Rijiju.

However, sources said that Rajnath Singh's visit has been scaled down purposely. The government, apparently, does not want to be seen ham-handed in dealing with Pakistan.

The opposition has been quite unsparing in questioning Modi's diplomatic acumen on his outreach to his counterpart Nawaz Sharif, days before the Pathankot terror attack. Another goof-up can be counterproductive, giving the opposition more ammunition to attack BJP in the run-up to the UP and Punjab elections.

Initially, the government had thought of reminding Pakistan about the reciprocity agreement on Pathankot to allow Indian investigators to visit Pakistan and hand over the material that points to Pakistan's involvement in the recent terror attack in J&K, but now sources say that these have been left to the diplomatic back channels and future meetings.

Accordingly, the delegation size has been kept very thin and only the Union home secretary, joint director (immigration), director (SAARC) and director (Pakistan) will accompany Rajnath to Islamabad.

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, IB director Dineshwar Sharma and special secretary and joint secretary (internal security) will not be part of the delegation.

India, however, will try to make full use of the multilateral forum to drive home its concerns about Pak- sponsored terrorism and narco-trade. Terrorism, visa liberalisation, narcotics and immigration are some of the key issues on the agenda of SAARC conference.

Rajnath was briefed by top security officials, including the NSA and IB and RAW chiefs on how to approach the SAARC meet and calibrate India's stand, and how to react if there happens to be a chance meeting with his counterpart Chaudhary Nisar on the sidelines of the conference.

To a question on security issues amid threats issued by the Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin, Rijiju said: "It's Pakistan's responsibility to deal with it."

At a rally on Sunday, Salahuddin had warned the Pakistan government not to welcome Rajnath, accusing him of "deploying soldiers in Kashmir to shed the blood of innocents."