India-Pak dialogue at lowest point in its four-year history : Menon

Colombo, Aug 1 (UNI) India today acknowledged that the peace process with Pakistan was at the lowest point in its four-year history after the serial terrorist bombings in Bangalore and Ahmedabad and the fidayeen attack at the Indian embassy in Kabul.

Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon said at a press conference here this evening, ahead of a bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousaf Raza Gillani that the blasts had ''affected the future of the dialogue" between the two South Asian neighbours.

The two Prime Ministers are here to participate in the 15th SAARC summit tomorrow and on Sunday.

''If you ask me to describe the state of the dialogue, it is at a place where it has not been in the last four years," Mr Menon said in reply to a question.

''We are facing a situation where things have happened in the recent past which were unfortunate and which quite frankly have affected the future of the dialogue,'' he said.

To a question the Foreign Secretary said, India was still investigating the Kabul terroirist attack ''We are still at a stage of investigation. It is a jigsaw puzzle. We have some of the pieces. The pieces that we have, I told you where they lead," he said.

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