DEHRADUN, Aug 16: External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid today said there was no point in even discussing holding talks with Pakistan till the situation at border becomes totally normal.
In response to a query about India’s response to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s offers of talks, Mr Khurshid said right now, the grounds to hold such talks were totally damaged in view of the LoC ceasefire violations, slaying of five Indian soldiers and repeated firing incidents at the border.
“It is not the time to even publicly discuss about when, how and what kind of bilateral talks will be held,” he stressed, adding that any dialogue would be possible only after normalisation of circumstances.
The government was not overly concerned over the safety of LoC and had full faith in its armed forces, which had full training and freedom to act on operation field, Mr Khurshid said in response to another query over the situation at LoC.
There were institutionalised system for the Army to be implemented in such situations like phone calls, flag meetings, meetings of DGMOs, among others and the decision to adopt any of these was left to them.
The government came into picture at rare case involving policy matters, he added.
“The government does not want to distract the Army with any debate over the issue and such matters are not publicised. The Army’s ability and conduct has been commendable,” he added. (UNI)
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