Dialogue with Pakistan has suffered: Manmohan

On Board Air India One, July 18: Admitting that the dialogue process with Pakistan has suffered following the July 11 blasts in Mumbai, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said it is time India ''reflected'' on its relationship with Islamabad.

''For the time being, the dialogue process has suffered (but) I would not say it is a setback,'' he told reporters, while returning from the G8 summit in St Petersburg.

''Look at the options... it is inevitable we should reflect on our relationship with Pakistan,'' he said. Continuing in the same breath, he, however, said he had pointed out more than once that the destinies of the people of South Asia was closely interlinked. Both India and Pakistan needed peace and stability.

''Anything that comes as a setback to that does not give me happiness,'' Dr Singh said.

India has suspended the Foreign Secretaries' level talks expected to be held in New Delhi, to review the ongoing peace process at various levels, in wake of the Mumbai blasts.

Dr Singh said that he had, in his speeches, replaced the expression ''fight against terrorism'' with ''war against terrorism'' in view of the enormity of the Mumbai blasts, which had left almost 200 people dead and 800 wounded.

Asked how the government now planned to tackle terror, he said it would be a ''long haul.'' ''We have to operate at various levels.

We have to strengthen our intelligence-gathering machinery and also we must simultaneously make every effort to improve our disaster management capabilities to face such incidents, should they happen in the future.''

UNI

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