Making it clear that India and Pakistan are not at a stage where they can resume dialogue, Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid on Saturday said recent incidents on the LoC are “upsetting” and are not conducive to the normalisation of ties.
“I must make it very clear that we have not reached a stage where we have done something like ‘so-called resumed talks’. We used to have a composite dialogue and that composite dialogue got suspended and then we began to move towards a process to resume that dialogue subsequently,” he said.
“While the two prime ministers met in New York (last month), we have not reached a stage where we have indicated any dates, timeline or perspective on the resumed dialogue…But whether and when the political level dialogue will take place and when, that is yet not clear,” he told reporters while returning with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after a bilateral visit to Indonesia.
He was responding to questions on whether recent incidents on the Line of Control have impacted the dialogue process.
“But (as far as) the incidents at the LoC and border are concerned, they are upsetting. The army is dealing with it and the defence minister is dealing with it, but I can’t say it is conducive to a faster movement in normalisation,” he said.
The incidents on the LoC are “unwelcome” and distract attention from efforts made by both sides to move towards normal relations, he said.
Khurshid said there were “many routine things” continuing between India and Pakistan and these “will continue”. He added, “This (political dialogue) is something our leaders will work out in due course.”
