Ready for talks with India, says Pak.

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, APRIL 28. Pakistan tonight maintained that it had declared its preparedness for talks with India on a number of occasions, and it was for India to respond.

In a statement here, the Pakistan Foreign Office took exception to the observations of the Indian Foreign Office spokesman on April 26 and said that if India was ready for talks, it should respond through diplomatic channels rather than by issuing statements to the press.

The following is the text of the statement: ``The Government of Pakistan has declared on a number of occasions that it is prepared for talks with India. Pakistan's proposal for talks with India for the settlement of the Kashmir dispute and on other outstanding issues has also been communicated to the Government of India through diplomatic channels.

``It is now for India to respond to the Pakistani proposal. The Government of Pakistan expects that when the Government of India is ready for talks, it would convey its response through diplomatic channels in accordance with established norms, instead of statements to the press such as that made on April 26 by the spokesman of the Indian External Affairs Ministry.''

The Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesman had said to a question that separate bilateral meetings of Foreign Secretaries on the occasion of the SAARC Standing Committee meeting were not unusual. He said, ``However, as yet no request has been received from Pakistani side for such a meeting.''.

The spokesman said to another question that the Indian position on the resumption of ``composite dialogue'' was well known. As the initiator of the composite dialogue, India would like its resumption in a conducive atmosphere.

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Section  : International
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