New Delhi, August 7
India feels the "dust needs to settle" after the collapse of the talks between the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan in Islamabad last month.

In an interview to Outlook magazine, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao said India's "genuine, carefully formulated and reasonable approach’’ to the talks with Islamabad should not be "under-estimated and under-valued by Pakistan". After the meeting between External Affairs minister S.M. Krishna and his Pakistani counterpart S.M. Qureshi on July 15, their joint press conference spoilt the atmosphere with Qureshi equating a statement by Indian Home Secretary G.K. Pillai to the provocative anti-India speech of Jamaat-ud-Dawa chief Hafez Saeed.

"At some stage into the press conference, after four questions had been raised - two from the Indian side and two from the Pakistani side - as previously agreed, Foreign Minister Qureshi decided to allow more questions. Perhaps the outcome would have been less tendentious if this turn of events had not taken place," Rao contended. She said that "path to lasting peace with Pakistan will not be easy", adding: "We have never nurtured any illusions about this". "A serious, sustained and comprehensive dialogue remains the best option. But such a dialogue can thrive only in a climate free of terrorism," said Rao.