Mukherjee with his Lankan counterpart Rohitha Bogollagama in Colombo on Thursday. (On Assignment/Jay Mondal)

New Delhi, July 31: Terrorism will dominate the agenda of the Colombo Saarc summit, which starts on August 2.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is leaving tomorrow for the Sri Lankan capital, where he will be joined among others by his Pakistani counterpart Yousaf Raza Gilani and Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai.

With India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka facing the threat of terror, the push for better regional co-operation in dealing with the menace will be stronger than before.

India has been keen on a mechanism that ensures greater co-operation among the countries that make up the association. An agreement on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters may be reached at the summit. This pact could lead to information-sharing on terror and, as sources said, should include extradition provisions between the member-countries.

From the Indian point of view, any provision for extradition will be of immense help in the absence of bilateral extradition treaties with Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Fingers are crossed, though. “Extradition can become a touchy issue for Pakistan, so let’s wait for the exact contours of the pact,” a foreign ministry official said. Saarc ministers had agreed during their talks last December in Delhi that it was important to have such a mechanism.

Singh and Gilani are expected to meet on the sidelines of the summit but as of now, no time has been fixed for their talks. This will be the first high-level contact between India and Pakistan since the blast at the Indian embassy in Kabul early this month cast a shadow on the peace process. India had warned after the strike that the dialogue had “come under stress” and cited, other than terror, cease-fire violations across the Line of Control.

Business will be on the summit table, too, with the eight-member group expected to explore ways to boost trade between member countries.

Intra-Saarc commerce is only five per cent of the total South Asian trade. That figure is 26 per cent for other regional forums such as Asean.

Karzai will arrive in Delhi on his way back from the summit on August 4. He is likely to meet President Pratibha Patil, Prime Minister Singh and foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee.