India refutes Pak media reports on resumption of talks

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has written a letter to his Pakist counterpart Imran Khan earlier this month responding to his congratulatory message but India on Thursday rejected Pakist media reports that claimed that Modi has proposed talks with the neighbouring country.

"We have seen the mentality of distorting facts in Pakistan media in this case, like how they distorted this simple straight-forward letter. The letter says that India wants to maintain cooperative relations with all nations in South Asia," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said on Thursday.

"The letter said that a terror and violence-free environment is necessary for normal and cooperative relationship with the countries. We only reiterated our stand in the letter. There was nothing in that letter that spoke about "talks" (between India and Pakistan)," he said on the contents of Modi's letter to Khan.

In a letter to Modi congratulating him on his second term as the prime minister of India, Khan had said that Islamabad wants dialogue with New Delhi to resolve all outstanding issues between the two countries.

Besides, Kumar noted that India wrote the letter "under an established democratic protocol of replying to congratulatory messages."

"Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was also given a reply. Our External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar had also replied to his Pakist counterpart," Kumar said.

"There is no change in our position," he stressed.

Instead, Kumar said, "In the letter, Prime Minister Modi had mentioned that India will continue working for an early operation of the Kartarpur Corridor."

India has time and again made it clear that Pakistan has to take action which is irreversible. "Unless we are convinced that action has been taken on the ground, and not the temporary action which we have seen several times in the past, we won't be fooled by some cosmetic action," Kumar said.

During his visit to Kyrgyzstan to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Orgsation (SCO) summit last week, Modi had also told Chinese President Xi Jinping that Pakistan needs to create an atmosphere free from terror and take concrete action to end the scourge but does not see Islamabad doing it at this stage. This was conveyed by Modi to Xi during their brief meeting on the sidelines of the SCO meeting.

On June 15, Pakist Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi informed that though there was no "structured meeting" between Khan and Modi, the two leaders exchanged pleasantries during the second day of the SCO Summit.

On the issue of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) blacklisting Pakistan, Kumar added, "We wouldn't like to say anything. It's a sensitive matter. It's a matter on which decision has been taken by FATF members. Once they issue a press release, whatever decision is there, we'll see if we've to react or not."

Tensions between India and Pakistan soared after the February 14 Pulwama terror attack, which killed 40 CRPF soldiers. The responsibility for the attack was claimed by Pakistan-based terror outfit -- Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).

On February 26, India launched an air strike on terror camps in Pakistan's Balakot, in response to the barbaric terror attack in Pulwama.

( With inputs from ANI )