Indian FM hints at continuing engagement with Pakistan

NEW DELHI: Indian Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid on Wednesday said the government of India did not want to create a situation detrimental and destructive for Indias security and peace.

He was speaking to the Press Trust of India news agency a day after five Indian soldiers were killed in an attack on the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto border dividing the region of Kashmir between India and Pakistan.Regarding engaging with Pakistan, Khurshid said India did not want to throw the baby out with the bath water.

However, the Indian government's response has provoked fury among its opponents, with a senior member of the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, L. K. Advani, telling lawmakers Wednesday this is no time for talks.

Sushma Swaraj, another of the BJP's leaders, told a stormy session of parliament that the defence minister had given Pakistan a clean chit for not holding the Pakistani army directly responsible for the attack.

The picturesque Himalayan territory of Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan by the UN-monitored LoC but is claimed in full by both countries.

While Indian military sources said Tuesday Pakistani troops were behind the attack, Defence Minister A. K. Antony would only say in a statement the same day that it was carried out by men wearing Pakistani uniforms.

Pakistan has denied any part in the incident, but India has lodged an official protest with Islamabad for what is one of the worst losses of life for the Indian army since a 2003 truce agreement.

Indian and Pakistani commanders spoke by hotline and discussed the incident Wednesday, a Pakistani military source told AFP.

The Pakistani foreign ministry said Islamabad wanted a strengthening of existing channels to stop such ill-founded reports in the future.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called a cross-party meeting for Wednesday night in an effort to win the opposition's support ahead of a widely-predicted meeting with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif next month on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, Indian media reports said.

But analysts say New Delhi would now be tempted to postpone such a meeting until more progress was made to improve the security situation along the LoC.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars, two over the Muslim-majority region of Kashmir.