NEW DELHI, Dec 11: A senior aide to Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee was quoted on Wednesday as telling top US officials that they had failed to rein in what New Delhi says is Pakistan-backed terrorism in Kashmir.

Star News said Brajesh Mishra, Vajpayee’s principal secretary and India’s national security adviser accused Washington in this regard of indulging in double standards in so far as it advises India to resume peace talks with Islamabad.

“The US and other governments have talked repeatedly to Islamabad to end infiltration of terrorists into Jammu and Kashmir and wind up the camps and infrastructure of militants but they failed. India is not blaming Washington for the failure,” Mishra said in Washington.

“Mishra has been holding extensive talks with his American counterpart Condoleezza Rice and the Secretary of State Colin Powell on a host of bilateral, regional and global issues,” Star News said.

Mishra, however, made it clear that asking India to resume dialogue with Pakistan despite continuing infiltration would amount to double standards on terrorism, the private TV channel said.

“How can we talk with cross-border terrorism still going on? So, when you (US and others) forget cross-border terrorism and urge us to talk, that is a double standard on terrorism,” Mishra said.

Mishra’s trip comes barely days after Russian President Vladimir Putin backed India’s concerns on Pakistan and reaffirmed solidarity between old allies not just on the issue of terrorism but also nuclear proliferation.

Star News said Mishra alleged Pakistan was involved in nuclear trade with North Korea, saying it concerns not only India but also has global implications.

“Development of nuclear weapons by North Korea affects a lot of other countries. I don’t have to name them. So it is a question which should not be turned into a bilateral question between India and Pakistan,” Mishra said.

Mishra revealed that during his talks with US policymakers, the question of cooperation in peaceful uses of space, nuclear energy and high technology was discussed fairly extensively and hoped some progress will be made, Star News said.