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NEW DELHI, May 17: Indian Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha has ruled out any summit talks with Pakistan until all bilateral issues are settled first at the official level, NDTV news channel reported from Moscow on Saturday.
“There will not be a summit until all issues are settled,”
Mr Sinha said addressing Moscow-based Indians on Friday night.
Mr Sinha described Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s new initiative for normalization of relations with Islamabad as historic and said that Pakistan was the only country in the world with which India’s relations were not good.
Mr Sinha said that the level of infiltration across the Line of Control was not the only issue that India was looking at.
“The level of infiltration is not an indicator of terrorism. Infiltration is like a tap which can be turned on or off.
“It is the pipeline through which the terror flows into India. There is a need to destroy the reservoirs of terror and the pipes through which it flows,” Mr Sinha said.
He said he had conveyed this to United States Secretary of State, Colin Powell during their meeting in Moscow on Tuesday.
NO MEDIATION: Indian National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra on Saturday ruled out any role for the United States in the forthcoming dialogue with Pakistan.
“They (the United States) are legitimately concerned about avoiding a war, about preventing a war between India and Pakistan, which could, in their view, lead to a nuclear conflict,” he said in a discussion on a news channel.
“Now that’s very legitimate and when they come to us and say exercise restraint, please do this, please do that, we say please go and talk to Pakistan,” he said.
However, Mr Mishra said: “When it comes to a dialogue with Pakistan, there is no third seat at the table.”
Mr Mishra met Mr Vajpayee in Manali on Friday and briefed him on his three-nation tour in the context of the peace process, the report said.
