Islamabad: Amid an increase in tensions over clashes on the Line of Control (LoC), a top aide to Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Wednesday that "real dialogue" will be possible only after elections are held in India early next year.
"The real dialogue will be possible after (the Indian) elections," said Sartaj Aziz, advisor to the Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs.
Aziz further said he was not very hopeful of the outcome of a proposed meeting between Prime Minister Sharif and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York in September.
The situation on the LoC was apparently becoming an electoral issue in India, Aziz said in an interview with Geo News channel.
"This (border tension) has become a part of the political scene because the Indian Opposition says the government is weak and cannot retaliate against the Pakistan Army or take revenge," he said in excerpts of the interview beamed by the channel Wednesday afternoon.
Aziz said it would be good if Pakistan and India could stabilise the situation in the next few months. Tensions between India and Pakistan have increased since five Indian soldiers were killed along the LoC in an attack by the Pakistan Army on August 6.
Pakistan on Wednesday claimed a man was killed in firing by Indian forces in Rawalakot sector. This was the second civilian death reported from the Pakistani side of the LoC.
The latest clashes have strained the ceasefire put in place along the LoC in 2003. The India-Pakistan dialogue process was put on hold in January after an Indian soldier was beheaded and another soldier's mutilated body was found following an attack by the Pakistani troops on the LoC.
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