India says talks with Pak "must go on"

New Delhi, Jul 17: As India was greeted with hostility from Pakistan following the marathon Indo-Pak talks, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao tried to undo the negativity by stressing that the India-Pakistan talks had not "collapsed".

Speaking to a TV news channel, the Indian diplomat said that the dialogue between the neighbours "must go on".

Responding to the remarks made by Pak Foreign Minister, SM Qureshi, Rao said, "The comments came as a surprise, there was no real reason for the comments."

Qureshi on Friday, Jul 16 made several scathing and undiplomatic comments on India and his Indian counterpart SM Krishna. He said that New Delhi was not ready for talks and that it had a "selective approach" towards the Indo-Pak peace process.

"There were some expectations, and we have a clear set of doables. Pakistan came to the talks with slightly different expectations. They wanted the entire spectrum discussed. We are not against resumption of dialogue, it has to start in a graduated way," Rao said when asked about the mandate set by both the countries.

OneIndia News