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India ready for talks if shelling reduce: Fernandes

Mukhtar Ahmad in Srinagar

The defence minister said on Saturday that India was ready for talks with neighbouring Pakistan if Islamabad reduced the level of shelling on the Line of Control.

"This is not a condition but it will contribute towards a meaningful dialogue between the two countries," Defence Minister George Fernandes told journalists in the state's winter capital Jammu today. Fernandes was in Jammu this morning on a day's visit to inaugurate a buyers and sellers meet.

Clarifying that there was no contradiction between his stand and the one taken by the prime minister the defence minister said New Delhi was willing to talk to Islamabad provided shelling on the Line of Control reduces.

"We cannot talk when they continue shelling on the LoC. There should be an atmosphere and some ground on which talks can be held," he said.

The prime minister and the foreign minister had recently asked Pakistan to apologise for the intrusion in Kargil and roll back cross-border terrorism before talks could be held.

However, George Fernandes added that after the recent visit by the US president Bill Clinton the number of artillery rounds fired by Pakistan has reduced.

While inaugurating the two-day meet, the defence minister called for indigenous manufacture of much-needed spares for weaponry since the country has to bear a heavy cost to buy them.

Earlier, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah, while addressing the meet, said that though the "return of peace and normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir was inevitable, yet we cannot afford to lower the guard since one does not know what the army rulers in Pakistan are up to.

"India does not want war and continues to work for friendship with Pakistan despite a great blow in this effort through the Kargil incursion," he said. Advising Pakistan "to reciprocate the initiative of India for friendship", Dr Abdullah said, "It has now fully dawned on Pakistan that Kashmir cannot be annexed from India. No one can change existing borders."

The chief minister made a strong case for central help to make industrial base in Jammu and Kashmir strong and self-reliant and said that the centre should give the state one-time necessary help to enable industry stand on its own legs.

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