India-Pakistan talks stalled over attacks: Delhi
Reuters | 12/16/2008 10:51 PM
Printer-friendly version | 
Send to friend | 
Share your views
SRINAGAR, India - Shaky peace talks between India and Pakistan have stalled over the Mumbai attacks, India said Tuesday, and can only resume if Islamabad takes more decisive action against militant groups on its soil.
The talks, known as the composite dialogue, began in 2004 after the two nuclear-armed neighbors almost came to the brink of war two years earlier over an attack on the Indian parliament blamed on Pakistan-based militant groups.
Those talks were thrown into jeopardy by the Mumbai attacks last month which killed at least 179 people and which India has blamed on Islamist militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba.
"There is a pause in the composite dialogue process because of the attack on Mumbai," Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters in the disputed region of Kashmir.
The tentative peace process has brought better diplomatic, trade and sporting ties but little progress has been made on major disputes such as the divided Jammu and Kashmir region.
India, the United States and Britain have blamed Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and other affiliated groups for the Mumbai attacks, saying Pakistan must do more to stamp out militants.
LeT was set up to fight Indian rule in Kashmir and has been linked by U.S. officials and analysts to Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence military spy agency, who they say uses it as a tool to destabilize India.
Pakistan in turn has promised to cooperate in investigations and has denied any official links to the Mumbai attack, although it has also repeatedly said anyone caught in Pakistan would be tried in Pakistan.
India and Pakistan have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947. Fearing another conflict, Western leaders have offered to help them both in the fight against militancy but at the same time have urged India to show restraint and Pakistan to act decisively against militants.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been under domestic pressure for a robust reaction but Defense Minister A.K. Anthony reiterated the government was not planning a military response.
"We are not planning any military action," Anthony told reporters in New Delhi.
"But at the same time, unless Pakistan takes actions against those terrorists who are operating from their soil against India and also against all those who are behind the Mumbai terrorist attack, things will not be normal," he said.
Washington has stiffened diplomatic pressure to keep India-Pakistan relations from worsening and to keep Pakistan focused on the U.S.-led war on terrorism.
Pakistan in turn has arrested scores of activists from an Islamic charity India says is an LeT front, and says it will abide by a U.N. decision to put LeT founder Hafiz Saeed on a sanctions list of people and organizations linked to al Qaeda.
But analysts fear Pakistan's response will follow a familiar pattern. A similar Pakistani crackdown on Let and Jaish-e-Mohammad after the 2001 attack on the Indian parliament was widely regarded as a sham.
Mukherjee said it would be difficult to resume the peace process with Pakistan unless Islamabad demonstrates a firm resolve to stamp out such groups.
"Words must be followed by actions," he said.
