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India ready for talks if Pak creates conducive atmosphere: PM

Carrying forward the peace initiative in Kashmir, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said on Monday that India was prepared to resume talks with Pakistan at the highest level provided Islamabad was sincere in creating a conducive atmosphere, even as he announced that the government would soon initiate talks with various representative groups of Jammu and Kashmir.

Only a couple of hours earlier, the prime minister had told the media at Kottayam helipad, before boarding an IAF chopper for Kochi airport, that the atmosphere was not conducive for talks with Pakistan. Neither Islamabad nor the Kashmir militant groups, he said, had responded to the cease-fire initiated by India.

''India is willing and ready to seek a lasting solution to the Kashmir problem. Towards this end, we are prepared to re-commence talks with Pakistan at any level, including the highest level, provided Islamabad gives sufficient proof of its preparedness to create a conducive atmosphere for a meaningful dialogue,'' he said.

The prime minister said he was sad to note, however, that the Pakistan government ''is not doing enough to reign in terrorist organisations based on its soil that are continuing their killing spree, targeting both innocent civilians and our security personnel in Kashmir and other parts of India.''

Vajpayee's significant remarks on the issue of resumption of the Indo-Pak dialogue, stalled since the Kargil conflict, were made in an article to newspapers written by him during his week-long holiday in Kumarakom, Kerala.

''The government will soon initiate talks with various representative groups in the state. We are prepared to take further steps to respond to Jammu and Kashmir's deep longing for peace, normalcy and accelerated development,'' he said.

Stating that the government was taking well-conceived steps to normalise the situation in J and K, he said as part of this the unilateral cease-fire during Ramzan had been extended by a month.

Outlining the contours of a new government approach to the issue, he said, ''In our search for a lasting solution to the Kashmir problem, both in its external and internal dimensions, we shall not not traverse solely on the beaten track of the past.

''Rather, we shall be bold and innovative designers of a future architecture of peace and prosperity for the entire South Asian region. In this search, the sole light that will guide us is our commitment to peace, justice and the vital interests of the nation,'' he said.

Describing the Kashmir problem as an "unfortunate inheritance" from the tragic Partition of India in 1947, he said India never accepted the "pernicious" two-nation theory that brought about the partition.

"However, the mindset that created Pakistan continues to operate in that country. That is why it is continuing with its untenable policy on Kashmir, disregarding the considerations of both good-neighbourly relations with India and the well being of the people of J and K," he said.

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