ISLAMABAD, Sept 1: Pakistan on Monday again called upon India to immediately resume the long-delayed talks on issues of mutual concern on the basis of sovereign equality and after shunning the blame-game and an overseas campaign that New Delhi had launched against Islamabad on baseless charges.

Speaking at his weekly news briefing, foreign ministry spokesman Masud Khan said the shortest route to negotiations was talks that should be started without any pre-conditions and delay. The objective, he maintained, could not be achieved by conducting a smear campaign against Islamabad as the Indian external affairs minister had been doing in his recent foreign tours.

Refuting Indian allegations, the spokesman said although Islamabad had much to say to counter these accusations of terrorism, it had acted with responsibility, restraint and dignity.

The spokesman admitted that there had not been much progress in the Pakistan-India projected talks, but he denied there was any indication that the Saarc summit scheduled to be held in Islamabad in January was at risk. He hoped that the heads of the Saarc state, including Mr Vajpayee, would attend the summit.

Referring to the recent strike and demonstrations in Srinagar when Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had visited the Valley to hold negotiations with various Kashmiri political leaders, Mr Masud Khan said this showed their total alienation with New Delhi.

He reiterated Islamabad’s stand that there should not be any arbitrary ban either by India or by Pakistan on overflights by national carriers. He asked for some mechanism between the two countries to guarantee against such unilateral adverse action. He hoped that the civil aviation talks, which remained inconclusive on Aug 28, would be resumed in a spirit of making them successful.

In reply to a question about the prospects of talks’ resumption, the spokesman said it appeared that the Indian premier’s hand of friendship remained suspended somewhere while Pakistan was anxious to grasp it as soon as it reached it.

India had a “morbid fear” of a political settlement of Kashmir issue, the spokesman surmised, emphasizing that Islamabad believed it was “a political dispute and issue which could be resolved only through political means”.

Answering questions based on Afghan leaders’ utterances and foreign news reports insinuating that Pakistan had been harbouring or supporting the Taliban fighters, the spokesman said Islamabad expected greater sense of responsibility on the part of Afghan officials.

He recalled Pakistan’s continued efforts to capture Taliban fighters wherever and whenever they were found within the country. He claimed that the backbone of the Taliban had been broken and now they were only in splinter groups. He said there was “heavy concentration of the Taliban on the Afghan side”.

Referring to a reported statement of Australian foreign minister in which he had alleged that Pakistan was engaged in some terrorist activities, the spokesman said while Islamabad was awaiting a response to its query from Canberra seeking clarification about the statement, he could deny any such baseless charge.