New Delhi:
External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid has said that India will not let the recent tension along the Line of Control upset the peace process with Pakistan and that the government will "respond positively" to what Pakistan High Commissioner has said.
"The peace process has been something in which a lot of time has been invested and we won't let these incidents that have happened recently affect it," the minister told NDTV.
He was responding to Pakistan's High Commissioner Salman Bashir's statement that dialogue is the only way forward to ease the tension between the two countries over the killing of two Indian soldiers near the Line of Control.
The Pakistan envoy has also urged New Delhi to accept his country's offer for talks at the Foreign Minster level to defuse tension over repeated ceasefire violations along the LoC in Kashmir. He said there was a need "to bring back normalcy. I believe it is in mutual interest of both the nations to use the offer made by Pakistan's Foreign Minister to deal with the present state of affairs."
(Watch video here)The High Commissioner spoke in an interview after Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar's offer to talk to her Indian counterpart got what seemed like a lukewarm response in India. New Delhi has not yet formally responded to Islamabad's offer for talks, made by Ms Khar in a statement on Wednesday night, only a day after she had accused India of "warmongering."
Yesterday, Mr Khurshid had said that that the government will not take any decision in haste. "These are things which you should anaylse, reflect on and take a decision. When we take a decision, we will let you know. Let's just take things a step at a time. We have been through difficult moments. The government will take everything into account. The PM has given a clear indication that we will move step by step. Let's see what is necessary to do and say, there's no hurry," he told reporters.
The Foreign Minister had also briefed the cabinet on Pakistan's offer yesterday, reportedly saying that sustained pressure from India had made the neighbour shift its stance from trying to internationalise the issue to seeking bilateral dialogue. Islamabad had earlier suggested a United Nations investigation into the killing of two Indian soldiers and mutilation of their bodies along the Line of Control last week. India had flatly rejected that suggestion.
He also reportedly pointed out that Pakistan had only spoken through the media so far and India would decide on any dialogue only after a formal offer from Pakistan's diplomatic channels.
Sources say that while India favours engagement, it was unlikely to agree to holding talks at the level of ministers any time soon. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has made it clear to Pakistan that it "cannot be business as usual" till those who mutilated the bodies of Indian soldiers killed in Pakistani firing, beheading one of them, are brought to book.
In yesterday's interview, the Pakistan envoy denied, yet again, that Pakistani troops mutilated the bodies of two Indian soldiers after killing them in an ambush along the Line of Control last week. "Unfortunately, Pakistan bashing has become fashionable whenever there is an issue," he said.
"Such heinous acts of course are condemnable irrespective of wherever they happen and whenever they have happened. But to say that they were done by Pakistan or the Pakistan army was responsible is something that we cannot agree to," Mr Bashir said adding that "When India raised the issue with us, we had said that we had made some preliminary checks...that we were prepared to do more and both the militaries needed to get to the bottom of it. That is the way we think this matter should have been handled instead of playing or stirring raw emotions and upping the rhetoric. That is detrimental to normal business."
Tension between India and Pakistan peaked last week after two Indian soldiers were killed in firing by Pakistani troops. In the next few days, the Indian Army reported repeated ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops along the 742-km LoC and said it had only retaliated. Pakistan has denied all of India's charges and has instead accused it of initiating aggression; it claims that three of its soldiers have been killed by Indian troops.
In the wake of the escalation of the tension along the LoC, two phases of the much-hyped Indo-Pak liberal visa agreement which have not been operationalised yet, have been put on hold. The tension has also hit sporting ties between the two countries. Nine hockey players who were signed up for the Hockey India League being played now, were asked to return last week.