India said Friday it was open to talks with Pakistan but no meaningful progress could be made until Islamabad controls the “terror machine” operating on its soil. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he was a strong advocate of dialogue with Pakistan but Islamabad must not allow territory under its control “to be used for terrorism against India.” “For any meaningful dialogue to proceed the terror machine has to be controlled by Pakistan,” he told parliament. Singh's statement came a day after Pakistan said it had put forward a road map on how to revive talks with India's political leadership and had urged New Delhi to respond to the proposal. Pakistan has urged India to set aside its preconditions and work together with it on the roadmap presented during the foreign secretary level talks in order to make deliberations more meaningful in future. Addressing a regular briefing in Islamabad, Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit said the ball is in New Delhi's court as it has to respond to Islamabad's proposal tabled before it on February 25. “It is obviously for India to respond to our proposal, because the two foreign secretaries can meet again and again and reiterate their respective positions on various subjects, but we cannot expect these open-ended meetings to lead to anything concrete,” The Daily Times quoted Basit, as saying. “India will not find Pakistan wanting if it agrees to the roadmap given by Islamabad without any preconditions,” he added. The Indian prime minister did not comment on the Pakistani plan but said: “I have never believed channels of communication with Pakistan should break down... the chances of miscalculation can only increase in a situation of no contact.” Singh in the past has said peace talks can only resume if Islamabad brings the Mumbai perpetrators to justice and cracks down on militant groups operating on its soil. Singh, responding to criticism from the opposition that India had restarted talks with Pakistan only because of US pressure, said the decision had been a “calculated one.” “The fact is that the rest of the international community is talking to Pakistan. Not talking to them will not isolate them,” Singh said.
