India not averse to talks with Pak.

By Atul Aneja

NEW DELHI, OCT. 9. A day after the telephone call by the Pakistani President, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, to the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, the debate within the Government to re-engage Islamabad in a dialogue is beginning to acquire momentum.

According to highly-placed Government sources, India was not averse to restarting the stalled talks, provided Pakistan reoriented itself and agreed to a broadbased dialogue.

But the spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs said a visit of by Mr. Jaswant Singh, to Pakistan was not imminent. Mr. Singh had been invited by Pakistan, but no date had been finalised.

Referring to the conversation between Gen. Musharraf, and Mr. Vajpayee, the spokesperson said that India was prepared for a dialogue with Pakistan, provided Islamabad was not fixated to a single-point agenda of Kashmir.

Sources said India, in its diplomatic interaction with world leaders in the coming days, was likely to spell out the ground rules to reinitiate a dialogue. Pakistan should also do its bit to curb terrorism in Kashmir, besides responding positively to the confidence-building measures.

The U.S. Secretary of State, Gen. Colin Powell, and the German Chancellor, Mr. Gerhard Schroeder, are among the high profile visitors who are expected to visit India this month.

In a goodwill gesture to Pakistan and the people of Afghanistan, India is sending relief supplies including food and large quantities of medicines, to the Afghan refugee camps in northern Pakistan.

While the Government debated re-engaging Pakistan, there is considerable scepticism about the Islamabad's decision to characterise the suicide attack on the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly as an act of terrorism. ``We will have to wait and watch how the Pakistani attitude evolves,'' the spokesperson said in response to a question.

The Government finetuned its assessment of the changes instituted by Gen. Musharraf in his team of Corp Commanders.

On the diplomatic front, Mr. Jaswant Singh held a 50- minute conversation with his Chinese counterpart, Mr. Tang Jiaxuan. Both leaders discussed possible bilateral cooperation to counter terrorism and ways to improve their security and economic ties.

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