Author: PTI
Publication: Daily Excelsior
Date: July 15, 2006
URL: http://www.dailyexcelsior.com/web1/06july15/news.htm#5
The deadly serial Mumbai blasts today had
its impact on the peace process with Pakistan with India deciding not to go
ahead with Foreign Secretary-level talks that were expected to be held here
next week.
There was little likelihood of the talks being
held in the current situation against the background of the Tuesday blasts
which had killed nearly 200 people, official sources said.
The sources said any dialogue was possible
only in a conducive atmosphere and this was not the appropriate time.
Reflecting New Delhi's mood, Foreign Secretary
Shyam Saran told reporters here that "unsettling events" had taken
place, an apparent reference to the Mumbai blasts.
"Cooperation is a two-way street. No
cooperation can be one sided....India will do what it has to do," he
said.
Saran, however, said the (peace) process (with
Pakistan) was not off.
Though there was no schedule of the talks
between the foreign secretaries, the two countries had agreed in January that
the dialogue could be held on July 21 which was to be confirmed by the two
sides.
While Pakistan had ten days ago expressed
its readiness for the talks next week, New Delhi had not given any response.
Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh had made a veiled hint of Pakistan's involvement in Mumbai blasts and
left Islamabad in no doubt that it would be "exceedingly difficult"
for India to carry forward the peace process if it did not control terrorist
elements operating from its territory.
