Indian External Affairs Ministry Spokesman Vikas Swarup categorically ruled out any possibility of talks between Indian officials and Sartaj Aziz at the sidelines of the Heart of Asia conference, due to take place on December 3 and 4 at Amritsar.
“Talks cannot happen in a climate of continued terrorism,” the Times of India quoted Swarup as saying. “India will never accept continued terrorism as the new normal of the bilateral relationship,” Swarup added.
His announcement came a day after Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit stated that Islamabad was ready for a bilateral dialogue with Delhi at the Heart of Asia summit. “Pakistan is willing to hold unconditional dialogue with India,” Basit had said, adding that Islamabad’s willingness to hold talks shows ‘Pakistan’s strength, not weakness’.
The two nuclear-armed neighbours have been locked in a standoff along the LoC due regular ceasefire violations by India which have cost both civilians and military personnel their lives. Pakistani forces have responded in turn, inflicting numerous casualties on Indian forces.
India has regularly blamed such attacks on ‘Pakistan-based militants’ – a charge Pakistan has repeatedly denied.
Pakistan, meanwhile, has denounced both India’s accusations and its ceasefire violations as attempts to distracts from mass protests in Occupied Kashmir which erupted after Indian security forces killed a popular separatist leader in July.
