According to official sources, the two prime ministers had a friendly conversation lasting about ten minutes. Vajpayee is understood to have expressed satisfaction with the talks, which concluded in Islamabad last week.

Meanwhile, India has rejected Pakistan's proposal for a `no-war' pact as Islamabad has linked it to the settlement of the Kashmir issue, prime minister's principal secretary Brajesh Mishra said tonight.

"The problem of the no-war pact is that they link it to the settlement of the Kashmir issue before it comes into being. Now that is something which is not acceptable to us", Mishra said.

"If there is to be a no-war pact it must be on the basis that status quo exists between the two countries and you must not cross that line. That is what no-war pact in our view is,"Mishra told a private TV channel in an interview.