Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made it clear to his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani on Thursday that there can be no further bilateral dialogue unless Islamabad contains terrorist activities directed from Pakistani soil.
"We were quiet clear that if acts of terrorism continue to be perpetrated, there is no question of any dialogue, let alone composite dialogue," Manmohan Singh told reporters in Sharm-el-Sheikh after three hours of talks with Gilani on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit.
"Composite dialogue cannot begin unless and until and terrorist heads which shook Mumbai are properly accounted for, (the) perpetrators of these heinous crimes are brought to book," said Singh.
"If there is no attempt to contain terror, no dialogue can take place," he said, quickly adding that he was not accusing the present government in Islamabad of having "the same mindset".
At the same time, Manmohan Singh indicated that India would not be averse to talking to Pakistan, saying: "our relationship has been subject to too many accidents".
"We have begun the process... How successful we are in achieving that only time can tell," he said. "We have an obligation to engage Pakistan."
"India's destiny as a great power ... cannot be realised unless there is peace in South Asia."
The Indian prime minister said Pakistan "was very keen to resume the composite dialogue. I said unless we are satisfied (that Pakistan has put a stop to promoting terror), no dialogue can take place... I won't be able to carry the public with me."
Singh and Gilani met for an hour without aides before they had another nearly two hours of talks with their delegation members.
Singh said he sought from Gilani an assurance that there would be no repeat of the savage terror attacks like on Mumbai last year when terrorists from Pakistan sneaked into the Indian city and slaughtered over 170 people. If that happens, it would be "intolerable", he said.
To this, Gialni reportedly responded: "You test us. We will work with India to prevent such things from happening again."
Joint declaration
Nearly eight months after the Mumbai attacks, India-Pakistan dialogue was back on track with Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani agreeing after nearly three hours of talks to share "real time credible and actionable information" on any future terrorist threats.
In a significant development, the two countries issued a joint statement declaring that they would de-link "action on terrorism" from the composite dialogue process.
"Both Prime Ministers recognised that dialogue is the only way forward. Action on terrorism should not be linked to the composite dialogue process and these should not be bracketed," a joint statement issued after the talks said.
The composite dialogue process was abandoned by India after the November 26-29 Mumbai terror attacks that India blames on Pakistani militant groups. India had earlier stated that it wants credible action to bring the Mumbai perpetrators to justice and to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism on Pakistani soil.
The phrase "credible action" found mention in the joint statement as well.
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