ISLAMABAD, 18 September 2003 — Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri has dropped plans to visit India next month, the latest setback in a halting process to get the nuclear-armed rivals to the negotiating table.

In a statement issued late on Tuesday, the Foreign Ministry said it was “regrettable” that India had objected to Kasuri personally delivering an invitation to a forthcoming regional summit.

Leaders from the seven-nation South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) are due to hold their 12th summit in Pakistan in January and India has indicated that Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee will attend.

The SAARC summit was originally planned for January this year, but was postponed after India declined to attend because of tensions with Pakistan. Kasuri has already visited Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka to deliver SAARC invitations.

“The letter of invitation to Prime Minister Vajpayee would be delivered through other diplomatic channels,” the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said.

The South Asian neighbors have fought two of their three wars since independence over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir and came close to a fourth in 2002.

Relations have gradually thawed since April, but attacks by separatist rebels in Indian-administered Kashmir, which New Delhi blames on Pakistan, have undermined chances of peace talks.

Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha said in an interview on Tuesday that the SAARC summit would not necessarily provide a forum for bilateral talks between India and Pakistan, adding that he did not believe necessary preparations could be made in time.

Islamabad interpreted India’s comments as a snub.

“Sinha’s remarks confirmed the apprehensions of all SAARC countries that India was not only disinterested in the SAARC process but also had no intention of engaging Pakistan in a dialogue to resolve all outstanding disputes including the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir,” the Pakistani statement said.

Pakistan denies helping Muslim rebels cross into Indian Kashmir from the Pakistani side of the territory, but offers “political, diplomatic and moral” support for what it calls a legitimate freedom struggle.