Summary Salman says recent LoC incidents are upsetting and India, Pakistan not at ‘resumed talks' stage.
NEW DELHI (Web Desk) - Making it clear that India and Pakistan are not at a stage where they can resume dialogue, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Saturday said recent incidents on the LoC are “upsetting” and are not conducive to the normalisation of ties.
“I must make it very clear that we have not reached a stage where we have done something like ‘so-called resumed talks’ We used to have a composite dialogue and that composite dialogue got suspended and then we began to move towards a process to resume that dialogue subsequently,” he was quoted as saying by PTI.
“While the two Prime Ministers met in New York (last month), we have not reached a stage where we have indicated any dates, timeline or perspective on the resumed dialogue...But whether and when the political level dialogue will take place and when, that is yet not clear,” he told reporters while returning with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after a bilateral visit to Indonesia.
He was responding to questions on whether recent incidents on the Line of Control have impacted the dialogue process. “But (as far as) the incidents at the LoC and border are concerned, they are upsetting. The army is dealing with it and the Defence Minister is dealing with it, but I can’t say it is conducive to a faster movement in normalisation,” he said.
The incidents on the LoC are “unwelcome” and distract attention from efforts made by both sides to move towards normal relations, he said.
Khurshid said there were “many routine things” continuing between India and Pakistan and these “will continue”. He added: “This (political dialogue) is something our leaders will work out in due course.”
Khurshid said he hoped there would be speedy action on the decisions made by the two Prime Ministers during their meeting in New York last month to reduce tensions on the LoC.
“We still hope that what was agreed between the PMs on DGMO-level meetings, that will take place in near future. I think India very consciously and carefully decided that DGMOs should be given priority because they are best placed to understand why these incidents are taking place,” he said.
The Directors General of Military Operations are best placed to put in place checks and controls against incidents on the LoC. “Thereafter, we can think of something more favourable and welcoming for our relationship,” he added.
“The idea was to have a meeting at the earliest possible time. There is a mechanism in place for weekly telephonic conversation at deputy DGMO-level. I am not even sure whether a time and venue have even fixed,” he said.
Khurshid welcomed “repeated signals” from Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif about wanting to improve ties with India. “We did not hold back to responding to their request as far as power and gas was concerned but its a long-term gestation matter,” he said.
Noting that Pakistan recently went through elections and soon India too will go to the polls, Khurshid said it may not be appropriate to invest much political capital in times like these.
