NEW DELHI: India on Tuesday summarily rejected suggestions of any third-party mediation in its talks with Pakistan, holding that China or any other country had no role to play in Indo-Pak bilateral relations.
"We don't favour involvement of any third country in our talks with Pakistan. It will only be bilateral,'' said defence minister A K Antony, on being asked about Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mehood Qureshi's statement that Beijing has a "blank cheque'' from Islamabad's side to play a role in improving Indo-Pak ties.
"India's basic policy is that we don't want interference from any country in our bilateral talks with Pakistan. We do not believe in third-party mediation,'' added Antony.
This comes just ahead of the foreign secretary-level talks with Pakistan on February 25 here, with India reiterating that the main focus of the discussions will be on terrorism. Pakistan, however, continues to harp that restricting the talks to "a narrow agenda'' will not yield much progress in the deliberations.
Antony also said India would take up the issue of the recent beheading of two Sikhs in Peshawar during the talks between foreign secretary Nirupama Rao with her Pakistan counterpart Salman Bashir on Thursday.
"We don't favour involvement of any third country in our talks with Pakistan. It will only be bilateral,'' said defence minister A K Antony, on being asked about Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mehood Qureshi's statement that Beijing has a "blank cheque'' from Islamabad's side to play a role in improving Indo-Pak ties.
"India's basic policy is that we don't want interference from any country in our bilateral talks with Pakistan. We do not believe in third-party mediation,'' added Antony.
This comes just ahead of the foreign secretary-level talks with Pakistan on February 25 here, with India reiterating that the main focus of the discussions will be on terrorism. Pakistan, however, continues to harp that restricting the talks to "a narrow agenda'' will not yield much progress in the deliberations.
Antony also said India would take up the issue of the recent beheading of two Sikhs in Peshawar during the talks between foreign secretary Nirupama Rao with her Pakistan counterpart Salman Bashir on Thursday.
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