Call of Indo-Pak talks: BJP, Govt declines to speculate

New Delhi/Islamabad, Feb 14 (PTI) Indian Government
Sunday faced a strident demand from the BJP to call off the
resumption of Indo-Pak peace talks this month in the wake of
the Pune terror attack but it declined to speculate whether
the blast will have a bearing on the parleys this month-end.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said "terror and talks"
cannot co-exist and dubbed the Indian initiative to hold the
Foreign Secretary level talks in New Delhi on February 25 as
"misconceived and adventurous."
The government on its part declined to speculate on the
fate of the the first talks since the Mumbai carnage in
November 2008 while Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani
indicated his government still wants talks to go ahead.
"Terror and talks cannot co-exist. When terror threatens
India, 'not talking' is a legitimate diplomatic option,"
Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha (Upper House of Indian
Parliament) Arun Jaitley said in New Delhi after a meeting of
the BJP core group.
BJP asked the government not go ahead with "misconceived
and adventurist steps" like resuming dialogue with Pakistan
and rehabilitating militants returning from
Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir.
External Affairs Minister S M Krishna declined to
comment on the fate of the planned Indo-Pak talks.
"I do not wish to comment on the talks right now. Let us
wait for the report (of the investigative agencies) first",
Krishna told reporters in Chennai when asked whether the Pune
blast would have any impact on the talks.
Gilani while replying to a question about the talks said
in Islamabad, "Pakistan wants better relations and a
meaningful dialogue with India." He also denounced the blast
saying Pakistan condemned terrorism in all its "forms and
manifestations."
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram declined to be drawn
into the question of whether the bomb blast would have a
bearing on the talks.
"This matter (of Indo-Pak talks) will be considered in
New Delhi," Chidambaram said in Pune. (MORE) PTI