Islamabad, November 3
Pakistan today said it wanted to hold dialogue with India but was not “desperate” and hoped that New Delhi would not back out from its commitment to attend the SAARC summit in Islamabad in January.
“We want talks but are not desperate for it,” Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan told reporters here, accusing India of making “fictitious” allegations of the continuation of cross-border infiltration of militants to avoid talks.
He also denied that Pakistan was resorting to delaying tactics to resume civil aviation links to block Indian flights from going to Kabul.
Pakistan insisted on guarantees in order to prevent unilateral action by both countries to ban overflights in future. Pakistan’s stand was aimed at protecting both sides, he said.
Both countries have agreed to hold second round of talks to resume air links early next month.
Asked whether the SAARC summit will be held in Islamabad, he said Pakistan had signals from the Indian leadership that Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee would attend it and hoped that India would not go back on its commitment.
About the possibility of talks between President Pervez Musharraf and Mr Vajpayee, Mr Khan said Indian External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha had already made it clear that there would not be any such meeting.
In that case, there may not be a meeting between the two, he said, adding “all we want is resumption of
dialogue soon but we are not desperate for it”.
He also said that “there is no cross LoC movement from our side. This is India’s fiction to evade composite dialogue. There is no truth in it.”
Maintaining that talks are a must to resolve the issues between the two nuclear-capable states, he said India, however, had adopted a “tone of condescension” at times in an attempt to give an impression that talks would be a reward for Pakistan.
“What we are saying is that the talks are a beginning of a process, and after beginning the process, we will have to take several steps”.
He urged India to reconsider its rejection of Pakistani counter-proposal that the United Nations should be involved in running a bus service between Srinagar and Muzaffarabad.
Mr Khan also said that “you can’t just close your eyes and pretend that Jammu and Kashmir is not a disputed territory”. —
PTI
