India shoots down Pak8217;s partial8217; offer, talks end

But Singh put the ball squarely in Pakistan8217;s court. 8220;We made our position veryclear. The onus is on Pakistan to make its bonafides clear. We now await Pakistan8217;s response to our demand for the vacation of the aggression,8221; he asserted.

He evaded questions on whether Aziz had invited him to Islamabad for another round of talks next weeks. However, he made it clear that India did not have 8220;the luxury to talk about talks8221;.

The separate press conferences by the two Foreign Ministers offered a study in contrast. While Aziz essentially repeated what he has been saying for the past two weeks, his tone seemed rather subdued and certainly less aggressive than Singh8217;s. In fact, he appeared to have been caught off-guard by the questions thrown at him. And unlike his Indian counterpart who refused to comment on the nature of the talks, Aziz described them as 8220;a frank and useful discussion8230;both of us have a huge stake in restoring the Lahore Spirit8230;but this cannot happen by whipping up war-like hysteria.8221;Singh8217;s appearance before the press, on the other hand, was a reiteration of thetough language he has used over the last few days, insisting that Paksitan fully vacate the armed intrusion and that the 8220;perpetrators8221; of the torture of the Indian soldiers be punished.

Significantly, while Aziz denied Pakistani involvement in either, Singh maintained at his press conference that nowhere during the talks this morning did Aziz repudiate the recent statement by a Pakistani spokesman that Pakistani army regulars were participating in the conflict. He also said that the torture issue had been brought up twice during the talks and Aziz did not deny it.

The two foreign ministers began talks at Hyderabad House here this morning, but refused to speak to the press before or after. Pointedly, they didn8217;t shake hands even for the television cameras; their body language indicated that the talks had ended even before they had begun.

Singh later said as much. 8220;There is no dialogue as such. Please be clear of any such misunderstanding. These talks have taken place at the request of the PrimeMinister of Pakistan. To call it a dialogue would be to classify a misnomer,8221; he said.

Aziz insisted that the crisis along the LoC was only a part of the 8220;Kashmir jehad that has been going on for 10 years now.8221; Repeatedly, he sought to link the intrusion to the Kashmir dispute, and denied outright that the infiltrators were sponsored by Pakistan. 8220;Who are they, what degree of intrusion is it; we have never accepted they are Pakistani,8221; he said.He said the cause of the problem was the 8220;confusion8221; that resulted from the fact that the LoC was not demarcated on the ground. Accepting that the Shimla agreement had delineated it on various maps, he pointed out that since the markers on the ground were 25-30 metres apart, the 8220;actual situation was that when the snows melted, some heights and posts were taken.8221;

Consequently, he said, there was a need to 8220;verify the LoC8221;, and suggested that the United Nations military observer group for India and Pakistan be expanded.

Asked about India8217;s reaction tothe proposal, the Indian External Affairs said bluntly, 8220;I have no recollections that relate to strengthening, enhancing or even a mention of any proposal relating to UN monitors.8221;