NEW DELHI, Jan 27: Indian Home Minister Lal Krishan Advani said on Sunday that there was not enough reason to foresee an early resumption of talks with Pakistan and argued that in any case there was no need for the two countries to look to summit level dialogue to resolve their differences.

Advani’s remarks, that also included a threat of going to war with Pakistan, came as Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, in a separate appearance, delivered a tough speech against Islamabad’s alleged support to terrorism in Kashmir.

“We want friendly relations with all the countries, but since we are being targeted by terrorism, it may not be easy to desist from giving a befitting reply too,” Vajpayee told a select group of the National Cadet Corps in New Delhi. His remarks were seen by diplomats as further sign that there was not going to be an early thaw in the military stand-off between India and Pakistan.

Advani, regarded as an anti-Pakistani hawk in Vajpayee’s cabinet, was less indirect as he told Star News in an interview that a war with Pakistan, though never a solution to bilateral disputes, could yet become inevitable.

“I don’t think in the present situation wars can be a solution,” Advani said, but added: “War may become inevitable. That’s a different issue. It’s not a question if there is going to be war. A war is on. The only question we are faced with is our response to the war of terrorism inflicted on us, in which in the first decade we lost our prime minister and in the second decade we had a mini war like Kargil. Is our response going to be the same as before the 13th of December or is there going to be a difference? Our answer is that there is going to be a difference.”

He said India had missed the chance of settling all differences with Pakistan in 1971 following a military victory.

He declined to say if another terrorist attack like the one on Dec 13 would almost certainly trigger the widely feared conflict, saying: “These are matters to which answers are given by the government as a whole, after considering all factors. They are not replied by one single minister.”

The minister, who is being groomed by the rightwing Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party as Vajpayee’s successor in a future dispensation, has made a clutch of high-profile media appearances since his return from a rare visit to the United States earlier this month.

He said he had seen no indication from Pakistan to suggest that India’s major concerns regarding terrorism were being addressed by President Pervez Musharraf.

Asked if and when he thought the next round of Musharraf-Vajpayee talks would be held, Advani said: “This is a something about which I have a view, that negotiations or dialogue does not necessarily mean a summit dialogue. But at the moment, till now, even though the statement was made on Jan 12, today we are speaking on the 27th, it’s been 15 days — and we have not seen any evidence on the ground as far as India is concerned, as far as Jammu and Kashmir is concerned.”

Asked if talks should then be held at a lower level, he said: “To this question I would say at the moment there doesn’t seem to be any reason why a dialogue needs to be resumed.”

Advani said although it was early to say if Gen Musharraf’s Jan 12 promise to stem terrorism in Kashmir was being kept or not, he could at least act on a list of 20 alleged criminals and terrorists that the Indian government has handed to Islamabad.

“The fact is that a simple matter like handing over 20 terrorists, about which there can be no doubt — that’s not done,” Advani told Star News. “The second thing which I have regarded as a litmus test for judging whether the statement made by Gen Musharraf, that terrorism will not be permitted in the name of the Kashmir cause, is being implemented.”

He said: “And I have always maintained that a judgment on whether there is infiltration or not cannot be done immediately. Handing over the 20 can be an instant thing. That’s not been done. Not only not be on that including a statement that we also have a list.”

Advani’s comments were not the only bit of adverse news in the short term at least for India-Pakistan relations as they coincided with the arrest of an alleged military intelligence agent of Pakistan near the southern city of Hyderabad.

Going by the play the story has received in the mainstream media and news channels, the arrest of one Rais Jaan, seems to be a major event in the hunt for terrorists linked with the Bengal mafia currently under scrutiny for last week’s attack on the American Center in Kolkota.

The Press Trust of India said “a suspected ISI agent, who had managed to give a slip to police earlier this month, was nabbed by sleuths of special branch near Hyderabad.”

It said West Bengal police, who had arrested one Mohd Dilshad, suspected to be the main ISI agent in the eastern town of Siliguri, had tipped off Hyderabad police about the presence of Jaan in the city.