India-Pak talks meaningless unless terror infrastructure is dismantled: Haqqani

Supporting India's determination that “talks and terror” cannot go together, a former top Pakistan diplomat has said another high-level meeting between the two countries would be fruitless unless Islamabad ensures the terrorist infrastructure on its territory is dismantled.

Pakistan's recent initiatives for talks with India must be seen in the context of the economic and international pressures on it, former Pakistani ambassador to the United States Husain Haqqani told reporters in Washington on Tuesday.

His remarks have come just ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit in Kyrgyzstan on June 13-14. India and Pakistan are part of the regional security grouping and leaders of both the countries are set to attend the meeting in Bishkek.

In a letter written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week, Pakistan premier Imran Khan had requested resumption of talks between the two countries to resolve all differences.

But no meeting has been planned between them on the sidelines of the summit.

Haqqani's remarks also came on a day the government in Islamabad presented its national budget amid an austerity drive to wriggle the country out of the financial mess it is in.

Earlier this month on Eid festival, Khan said there will be no increase in the defence budget because of “our critical financial situation”. The defence budget presented on Tuesday reflected that sentiment with no increase proposed in expenditure compared to last fiscal.

Weeks ago, Khan's government negotiated a USD 6 billion bailout package with the International Monetary Fund to overcome the financial woes.

Haqqani said another high-level meeting between India and Pakistan would be meaningless unless it is accompanied with dismantling of terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and giving up the notion of the two countries being “permanent enemies”.

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