Won’t accept preconditions for talks, says Islamabad

NEW DELHI: Pakistan, which continues to be in denial mode, has once again queered the pitch for a sustained engagement with New Delhi by saying that it will not accept any preconditions for talks.

India has been maintaining that only credible action against terror alone can put the dialogue process back on the rails.

But the Pakistani establishment, driven by General Kayani, said that it will not accept any preconditions. “Our position is very clear. We do not agree to any preconditions for resuming the dialogue process between Pakistan and India,” reports from Islamabad quoting foreign office spokesman Abdul Basit said.

Responding to a question on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s call for Pakistan to act against terrorism directed against India emanating from its soil in order to ensure progress in bilateral parleys, Mr Basit said Pakistan would like to see the dialogue moves to a certain direction and achieves results. “That is our sole objective when we talk about the dialogue process between Pakistan and India,” he said.

Mr Basit said the ball was in India’s court and that India would have to show flexibility to take forward the dialogue process that has been stalled since the November 2008 Mumbai attacks. “So we will see how things evolve and if India shows some flexibility and shows its readiness to discuss all the issues as was decided by the two prime ministers at Thimphu (on the sidelines of the Saarc summit in April), I think the two sides can meet again,” Mr Basit said.

He claimed that Pakistan was ready to be “constructive and positive” and was prepared to “achieve concrete results on all issues which are there between our two countries, including the core issue of Jammu and Kashmir”.

During his address to the nation on Independence Day, Prime Minister Singh had said that his government wanted to resolve all differences with Pakistan but made it clear that dialogue cannot go far unless terrorism emanating from Pakistan.