New Delhi:
After the Sharm-el-Sheikh fiasco, there was a question mark on when India and Pakistan would talk next. But on Thursday, Foreign Minister SM Krishna has confirmed that the Foreign Secretaries will meet in New York later this month on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
After that, Krishna will meet his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Quereshi, also in New York. In fact Pakistan had invited Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao for talk to Islamabad, but given the backlash against the Egypt statement India was not keen.
New Delhi will, of course, continue to focus this limited dialogue to the issue of terrorism.
Ahead of these meetings, Krishna has put the onus on Pakistan to unveil the conspiracy behind the Mumbai attack and ruled out meaningful dialogue till concrete action is taken against those responsible.
The firm message was sent out by Krishna who said it is for Pakistan to determine the kind of relationship that it wants to have with India.
Talking about the Mumbai attacks, he said it was launched from Pakistan and the conspiracy was hatched there.
"Clearly, the onus is on Pakistan to unveil the conspiracy," he said, adding India had sought to "assist" them in that task by providing vital evidence.
"Any meaningful dialogue with Pakistan can only be based on fulfillment of its commitment, in letter and spirit, not to allow its territory to be used in any manner for terrorist activities against India," Krishna asserted.
Qureshi had said in Islamabad on Wednesday that it is Pakistan's desire there should be positive movement in talks with India and he was looking forward to meeting Krishna.
The previous high-level contact was in the Egyptian resort town of Sharm-el-Sheikh when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of the NAM summit in July.
(With PTI inputs)