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India on Friday made it clear that the 'core issue' to resume the Indo-Pak dialogue was not an end to infiltration but a 'permanent end' to terrorism.
"A large number of people who have already infiltrated (into India from across the border). We must not lose sight of what actually is the core of the problem. It is not infiltration. It is terrorism," Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal said while addressing newspersons in Delhi.
"It is good news that terrorism has declined, but that is (just) one step in the process that will lead to an end to terrorism, including training camps, funding, arm supplies, the jihadi (holy war) groups that exist across the border," Sibal said when his attention was drawn to a home ministry report that acknowledges a decline in infiltration from across the border.
"The fact that we have been able to hold the elections in J&K reasonably successfully doesn't mean that Pakistan's commitment to end cross border terrorism has been honoured because you have seen the statements from the Pakistani side, including by Gen Musharraf, repeatedly attacking the elections, calling them a sham and saying that they were going to be rigged and encouraging the Kashmiris not to vote," he said.
"All the talk of resumption of dialogue is premature. We'll have to see credible evidence from Pakistan on implementation of its commitment to end cross border terrorism," Sibal said.
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