NEW DELHI, May 28: India on Tuesday ruled out any talks with Pakistan, saying diplomatic efforts to convince it to close down militants’ camps in Kashmir had so far failed and that comments made by its leader were “dangerous”.

Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh told a press conference he could not foresee a meeting between Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf next week.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed the two leaders meet on the sidelines of a regional conference in Almaty, Kazakhstan, which they are both slated to attend.

“Almaty is some distance away yet,” Singh said. “Personally I don’t see the possibility of talks between Musharraf and Vajpayee.”

In reply to another question, Singh said that the atmosphere was not right to resume bilateral talks with Pakistan.

“... we stand for dialogue. We are ready for dialogue. But you have to create an atmosphere for talks. You can’t put the pistol of terrorism on my temple with the finger on the trigger and ask me to talk,” the minister said.

He described comments by Musharraf during his televised address to his nation on Monday as “disappointing and dangerous.”

“Disappointing, as it merely repeats some earlier assurances which remain unfulfilled till today, and dangerous because through belligerent posturing, tension has been added to, not reduced.”

Singh, delivering his government’s first official response to Musharraf’s statement, also denounced what he said were nuclear threats by Pakistan, which earlier in the day test-fired another missile, the third in four days, ignoring international calls for restraint.

“General Musharraf has spoken very casually about nuclearization which is tantamount to nuclearization of terrorism. And in this we see an example of how promotion of terrorism and the threat of nuclear weapons is being held simultaneously,” said Singh.

“Let the world recognize that today the epicentre of international terrorism is located in Pakistan,” the foreign minister said.

“Terrorists targeting not just India but other countries, too, receive support from state structures within Pakistan.”

He did not believe diplomatic efforts to persuade Musharraf to close down camps in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, which New Delhi claims are being

used to train militants to launch cross- border attacks into Indian territory, were bearing any

fruit.

“Yes, we have also been told that pressure is being applied. It is really what we see on ground that matters. Today, the third missile test, yesterday’s speech, and there are all kinds of other activities by the government of Pakistan,” Singh told a press conference.

“It is really for the government of the United States and the United Kingdom to assess whether the pressure is working on Pakistan.”

A glimmer of hope, however, did emerge from Singh’s press conference when he repeated, at least twice, that if the Pakistan president fulfils his promise to end terrorism, New Delhi will reciprocate.

“General Musharraf has nevertheless voiced a desire for peace,” Singh said.

“It is in his hands to attain it. Let him simply fulfil the assurances that he has himself given all these months. India will reciprocate.”

He gave no details of the intended reciprocal moves.

Earlier, Defence Minister George Fernandes had taken a somewhat softer line.

“We are not on the brink,” he told Star News television. “The fact is that troops are on the border, but to say that they are on the brink of war would not be proper.”

Diplomatic pressure, meanwhile, continued to weigh on both India and Pakistan, with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw arriving in New Delhi late on Tuesday from Islamabad, where he earlier held talks with Musharraf, describing them as “constructive and forthright.”

While the verbal duel continued in New Delhi and Islamabad, along their border in Kashmir troops exchanged heavy gunfire, particularly in Kargil — the battleground of the last India-Pakistan conflict in 1999 in which 1,000 combatants from both sides died.—AFP