New Delhi/ Pune: Foreign Secretaries of India and Pakistan are likely to go ahead with their talks on February 25, sources in the government have told CNN-IBN.
India won’t respond in a knee-jerk manner because of the bomb blast in Pune on Saturday night that killed nine people. Sources say the government is aware that talks with Pakistan were always expected to be a bumpy road and it would insist on discussing terrorism in any dialogue with that country.
“Our home minister is in Pune and so are investigating agencies. We will look at the investigational reports and then decide on talks,” said External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on Friday.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Sunday refused to be drawn into the question if the bomb blast in Pune would have a bearing on the talks.
"This matter (of Indo-Pak talk) will be considered in New Delhi," Chidambaram said when asked at a press conference whether last night's blast would cast a shadow on the proposed Foreign Secretary-level talks.
"I will not go beyond this (the blast) incident in my responses," he said. The Minister was addressing the media after visiting the blast site in Koregaon area and meeting the victims undergoing treatment at various hospitals.
"I have not come here to answer questions on the diplomatic or external affairs side. Those are matters we will consider in Delhi...That we will discuss when I get back to Delhi," he said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanded that India call off talks with Pakistan following the blast in Pune. "Terror and talks cannot co-exist. When terror threatens India, then not talking is also a legitimate diplomatic option," BJP spokesperson Arun Jaitley told reporters in Delhi.
Jaitley accused the Indian government of taking an unexplained "U turn" on its negotiating stand in the peace dialogue with Pakistan.
"So (long) as Pakistan continues building an infrastructure for terror against India, and till such time that there is no cooperation in the context of 26/11, we cannot talk to Pakistan," he said, referring to the attack on Mumbai by Pakistani terrorists that left 166 people dead.
"The composite dialogue cannot proceed," Jaitley added.
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