Pak must draw red line if it wants talks: Jaitley

 

Minister says India for normalisation of ties but environment not conducive, puts onus on Islamabad

Defence minister Arun Jaitley said on Wednesday Pakistan had to make a conscious choice whether it wanted to talk to the government of India or to those who want to break India, effectively shutting the door on any immediate resumption of bilateral talks between the nuclear-armed nations.
VIPIN KUMAR / HT PHOTO Arun Jaitley at the India Economic Summit organised by the World Economic Forum in New Delhi on Wednesday. India called off planned talks between the foreign secretaries of the two countries in August after the Pakistani envoy met Kashmiri separatists in New Delhi, saying it was an “unacceptable” attempt to “interfere” in India’s domestic affairs.

“I think a new red line has to be drawn in Pakistan to reconsider this question that who they want to speak to. Do they want to speak to the government of India or do they want to speak to those who want to break India? So, unless Pakistan makes the conscious choice, a dialogue with Pakistan will not be possible,” Jaitley told the World Economic Forum.
“We create the environment, we fix up a dialogue at the level of foreign secretaries, our foreign secretary is to visit Pakistan (and) literally a few hours before that they invite the separatists for a dialogue to their high commission in New Delhi,” said Jaitley.
The Narendra Modi government started on an upbeat note by calling Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to his swearing-in ceremony in May along with leaders of all SAARC countries. But relations between the two countries have slid since then with the neighbours.
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