When cricket teams from India and Pakistan met on the pitch thisweek, it raised hopes of a thaw in relations that were strained in lastyears terror attacks on the Indian commercial capital Mumbai. Indiablamed those attacks on suspected Pakistani-based terrorists. New Delhiis ruling out any talks with Pakistan until its neighbor andnuclear-armed rival takes substantive action to prevent Pakistani-basedterrorists from attempting further attacks on India.
India's victory over Pakistan Wednesday in a warm-up match in Englandwas the first time the two national teams faced each other since lastNovember's terrorist attack on India's commercial capital, Mumbai.
But Indian government officials are reluctant, despite the resumption of some sporting ties, to re-start formal dialog.
ExternalAffairs Minister S.M. Krishna was asked by reporters Friday if Indiaplans to resume talks with Pakistan to try to resolve issuesconfronting the region, such as their Kashmir territorial dispute.
"Well,not unless they take concrete measures to prevent terrorist attacksemanating from the soil of Pakistan aimed against India," he said.
Officialsin New Delhi and Islamabad are communicating through their diplomats todetermine how and when talks can resume. Such discussions involvingtheir top envoys in both capitals took place Wednesday and Thursday.
Thereare still some issues that need to be resolved if talks are to takeplace. India is upset with the Lahore High Court decision to releasefrom custody the founder of the group blamed for the Mumbai attacks.The court ruled there was not enough evidence to continue holding HafizMohammad Saeed, the founder of Laskhar-e-Taiba (and leader ofJamaat-ud-Dawa), who India contends is the mastermind of last year'sassault on Mumbai.
India and Pakistan have traded accusationsthat the other is not cooperating sufficiently in providing evidencefor investigations into the Mumbai attacks.
The Indian foreign minister says Saeed's release demonstrates Islamabad is not serious about combating terrorism.
Meanwhile,Delhi Police have arrested an alleged Pakistani militant, Abdul Madni.The government says he has links to Saeed. Video of the suspect, shownsurrounded by heavily armed police, was aired here Friday.
HomeMinister Palaniappan Chidambaram credited Madni's arrest to goodintelligence and investigative work by the police. But he rebutted newsreports linking the suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba operative to an increasedsecurity alert for the city of Hyderabad.
"Let me assureeveryone there is no need for any alarm that there is going to be anyimminent terrorist attack," said Chidambaram.
The homeminister says officials in Hyderabad decided to heighten theiralertness following information Indian authorities relayed to the stategovernments. Chidambaram did not elaborate. Media reports say theIntelligence Bureau has warned of a major attack, possibly in thesouthern part of the country.