 "Despite setbacks, Indo-Pak talks on Sunday as scheduled")
Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde made the announcement that the three killers had infiltrated into India earlier from across the border. They took a three-wheeler autorickshaw, entered a police station in Kathua, gunned everyone in sight, taking five lives, then forced the driver of an army truck out of the vehicle and drove to Samba and into an army camp, where they killed three soldiers and a Lieutenant Colonel. They then separated and went on firing, even as the army sent up a helicopter to hunt them. After several hours of firing on both sides, they were killed but not before causing grievous damage.
The Indian and Pak foreign offices were obviously in touch with each other because India reacted first, with the PM describing it as an attack on peace and declaring those who had done this did not want talks, but their plan would not succeed, and the Pakistan government condemned the attack unequivocally.
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A previously unknown organisation, the Shohada Brigade, has claimed responsibility for the attack. In a call to PTI news agency, the organisation claimed the militants were locals. However, the home ministry says they were infiltrators. The nationality is important because in the past Pakistan has always claimed that it is indian Muslims, who, outraged at the way Kashmiris are treated by India, carry out such attacks. India has always believed people are sent from across the border to carry out attacks.
This is not the first time such an attack has taken place on the eve of important summit-level talks.
The previous meeting between the PMs of the two countries was in 2010, on the sidelines of a South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit in Thimphu, where they even took a stroll together. It was much later that Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told that country's National Assembly what they discussed during the stroll. "When I walked with Manmohan Singh, he told me that he trusts me. He said that you say the culprits of the Mumbai incident (the November 2008 terrorist attacks, termed 26/11) will be brought to justice and we trust you."
And: "I told Prime Minister Singh that Pakistan is serious about prosecuting the perpetrators of 26/11 attacks and an effort is being made to bring the trial to a speedy conclusion. Pakistan will not allow its territory to be used for terrorist activities directed against India."
That this promise has again been broken was emphasised by Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh, who said talks with Pakistan should be discontinued because their leaders didn't mean what they said. However, the BJP's prime ministerial nominee, Narendra Modi, was more circumspect, confining himself to condemning the attack and sympathising with those who had died or were injured.
"The youth of Trichy are telling you this. I want to ask, you and I want you to answers - our soldiers are being killed, innocents are being killed, terror troubles us.
"Should the PM show such haste to meet Pakistani leaders? Every citizen asks, are we so weak that our neighbours can do what they want and we keep our eyes shut, our mouths locked? The government in Delhi eats chicken biryani with the Pakistan prime minister in the name of protocol," Modi said in his speech.
The PM did not celebrate his 81st birthday on Thursday, in the aftermath of the two attacks.
Congress MP Mani Shankar Aiyar had first used the phrase "uninterrupted and uninterruptible" for the desirable state of India-Pakistan relations. It would appear this description of the relationship is on the way to being achieved.
RECENT INDO-PAK MEETINGS
* Feb 6, 2011: Foreign secretaries Rao and Bashir met on the sidelines of a SAARC conference in Thimphu
* March 27, 2011: Manmohan Singh and Gilani meet on the sidelines of a cricket world cup semi-final match between India and Pakistan in Mohali, Punjab
* July 26, 2012: Pakistan's first woman foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar visits India and holds talks with her Indian counterpart SM Krishna in Delhi
* Nov 10, 2012: Manmohan Singh meets Gilani in the Addu Atoll of Maldives, the venue of a SAARC summit. They jointly declare to open a new chapter in the history of Indo-Pak relations
* Feb 13, 2012: India's Commerce Minister Anand Sharma visits Pakistan on a three-day trip, the first by an Indian trade minister in three decades
* March 27, 2012: PMs of the two countries meet on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit in an informal meeting in the South Korean capital of Seoul
* April 8, 2012: Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari comes to India on a day-long private visit to offer prayers at the Ajmer dargah and hold talks with Manmohan Singh