Indian FM doesn’t see Pak-India dialogue resuming anytime soon

NEW DELHI: Terming the recent incidents on the LoC as "upsetting" and non-conducive to the normalization of ties, Indian External Affairs Minister, Salman Khurshid, Saturday said that New Delhi and Islamabad were not at a stage where they can resume dialogue. "I must make it very clear that we have not reached a stage where we have done something like 'so-called resumed talks'. We used to have a composite dialogue and that composite dialogue got suspended and then we began to move towards a process to resume that dialogue subsequently," he said while talking to Press Trust of India. "While the two Prime Ministers met in New York (last month), we have not reached a stage where we have indicated any dates, timeline or perspective on the resumed dialogue...But whether and when the political level dialogue will take place and when, that is yet not clear," he told reporters while returning with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after a bilateral visit to Indonesia. He was responding to questions on whether recent incidents on the LoC have impacted the dialogue process. "But (as far as) the incidents at the LoC and border are concerned, they are upsetting. The army is dealing with it and the Defence Minister is dealing with it, but I can't say it is conducive to a faster movement in normalization," he said. The incidents on the LoC are "unwelcome" and distract attention from efforts made by both sides to move towards normal relations, he said. "There were many routine things continuing between India and Pakistan and these will continue, however, this (political dialogue) is something our leaders will work out in due course," Khurshid said.