Further rollback when Pakistan takes action

NEW DELHI: India on Thursday asserted that rollback of further measures announced by it in the wake of the December 13 attack on Parliament and sending a new High Commissioner to Islmabad can be considered only when credible action is taken by that country to stop infiltration and cross-border terrorism.
"Any further rollback can be considered only if and when Pakistan takes action to stop infiltration and ends cross-border terrorism permanently," an External Affairs Ministry spokesperson said.
Last night External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha told a television channel that, "We had finalised a name (Harsh Bhasin as the new High Commissioner) when we took some important steps to reduce tension but these were termed as cosmetic by Pakistan."
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf in interviews backtracked on his commitments to end infiltration and terrorism. "We also did not take any more steps and did not offically make any announcement of the new High Commissioner,'' he said.
Sinha said that the terrorist attack near Jammu on Saturday night has dealt a blow to normalisation of relations between India and Pakistan. Qasim Nagar carnage is a setback to normalisation of relations between the two countries," he said.
The minister dismissed suggestion that his predecessor Jaswant Singh was pro-West. "This is a misconception. The country''s foreign policy is based on national consensus. The policies pursued by Singh were those of the government.
He also made it clear that India would not succumb to any outside pressure. "We will take decisions that are in our national interests and there is no question of bowing to pressure from any quarter".
Sinha said there was no change in India''s stand on joint patrolling of the borders with Pakistan but Islamabad was not agreeable to it.