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India favours structured talks with Pakistan

India has said it favoured structured talks with Pakistan in view of the Agra summit experience and said resumption of dialogue with Islamabad should be not construed as New Delhi weakness.

"We are committed to the Lahore process. But it will be a big mistake if anyone thinks that we decided to talk to Pakistan from a point of weakness," External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh told a news channel on Monday.

On whether Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee went for the Agra summit with Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf without an agenda, Singh said four basic documents -- the Simla Agreement, the Lahore Declaration, the eight-point Composite Dialogue process and a written agenda sent to Islamabad by New Delhi before the talks -- already existed.

He, however, said that there should be structured dialogue between the two countries in future.

Singh said India, under no circumstances, would compromise with cross-border terrorism or any other basic issue including Jammu and Kashmir being an integral part of the country.

PTI

Indo-Pak Summit 2001: The Complete Coverage

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