Terror and talks can't go together, foreign secretary to tell Pakistan counterpart

Foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale is expected to conve y to his Pakistani counterpart that terrorism and talks cannot go hand in hand, a reiteration of India’s position after the government weighed its options for engagement and concluded that the neighbouring country is unlikely to clean up its act soon as it faces polls in the middle of this year.

Gokhale and Tehmina Janjua are set to meet on the sidelines of a conference in Kabul this week.

India has no plans to restart a formal dialogue with Pakistan in the near future, even as talks at the level of senior officials might continue in the coming months, primarily on the sidelines of multilateral meets, people aware of the matter said.


Ceasefire violations along the Line of Control and International Boundary in J&K continue unabated from the Pakistani side, along with cross-border terrorist attacks by Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed. And Kulbhushan Jadhav, a former Indian Navy officer, is still on death row in Pakistan. “How can India resume dialogue with Pakistan under such circumstances?” said an official, who did not wish to be identified.

Meanwhile, PM Narendra Modi is expected to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit in June in China, where a senior Pakistani leader will also be present.