Time not right for composite dialogue: India
Local Friday, February 26th, 2010Indian Foreign Secretary Nirpuma Rao said that India was not interfering in internal matters of neighboring country, Pakistan needs to do more to curb terrorism adding that time is not right for Composite dialogue with Pakistan .
In a press conference after Pak-India secretary level talks in New Dehli, she said that both the countries are agreed to continue the talks in future. She said that it is premature to say anything about Pak-India PMs meeting.
She said that India never closed the doors of talks but terrorism was the main hurdle in way of establishing sustainable peace between both the countries.
She said that Afghanistan issue was not discussed in the talks while Kashmir issue came under discussion.
She told that Pakistan asked India to resume the composite dialogue snapped by the Mumbai terror attack but New Delhi said the two countries first needed to build a climate of trust.
“They said we should resume the composite dialogue. Our response was that we certainly don’t discount the achievements of the composite dialogue and its relevance.
“But the time is not right (for it) because we need to create a climate of trust and confidence,” she said.
She said the two countries held “useful, candid discussions” at the Hyderabad House here. “There was good chemistry between the two delegations. All in all, both sides benefited.”
She told that Pakistan has been asked to investigate the claims of unknown militant groups that had owned responsibility for the Feb 13 Pune bombing.
“(The) recent Pune attack is yet another reminder that our citizens are vulnerable to terror activities,” Rao told reporters after her talks with Bashir here.
“We went with an open mind but fully conscious of our concerns,” Rao said.
She said Pakistani officials were asked to “investigate the claims of hitherto unknown group Lashkar-e-Taiba Al Alami (besides) Illyas Kashmiri”.
The Kashmir dispute figured in the talks between India and Pakistan but New Delhi reiterated its “national position”.
“The issue (Kashmir) came up (during the talks),” Rao said
“Their (Pakistani) position was on expected lines. I don’t want to get into details. We reiterated our national position,” Rao added.
India has been maintaining that Jammu and Kashmir is its integral part and there could be no compromise on redrawing borders. Before the talks began, Pakistan had stressed that Kashmir should be the core issue for the talks.
She said that Islamabad needed to curb all terrorists operating from its territory and territory under its control.
Referring to the activities of terrorists in Pakistan, she said this was in ample evidence from the rallies held Feb 5 (in Pakistan) during which the groups openly incited terrorist violence against India.
“It was the duty of Pakistan to take effective action to dismantle and put an end to the activities of all such organisations” such as Lakshar-e-Taiba and Hizbul Mujahideen, she said.
Rao said she put forth “our concerns on terrorist violence emanating from Pakistan against India”.
“I told my Pakistani counterpart that terrorism cannot advance any cause but the cause of senseless violence. And that it is the solemn duty of all states to eliminate all terrorists from their soil.”
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on Feb 26 2010. Filed under