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NEW DELHI, Thursday (AFP) India Thursday accused Pakistan of using terrorism as a "pre-dialogue negotiating tactic" and ruled out talks with its arch-rival over Kashmir until all insurgency in the disputed Himalayan state is ended.

"We will be satisfied only when there is a complete stop to cross-border terrorism. Until then, there is no conducive atmosphere for talks," Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha said in an interview with the BBC's Asia Today programme.

He was responding to a suggestion by senior US State Department official Richard Haass in New Delhi earlier in the week that India "mull over" the possibility of opening talks despite the infiltration of Islamic militants into Indian-administered Kashmir from the Pakistani zone.

"We feel this (ending infiltration and negotiations) could take place simultaneously," said Haass, director of policy planning for the US diplomatic agency, who acknowledged, however, that the infiltrations were a "matter of considerable concern" for the United States.

Sinha questioned the trustworthiness of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's June commitment to the United States to rein in the militants, saying that infilitrations had merely been reduced "from 100 percent to 70 percent."

"He made a promise he will not interfere in the elections in Jammu and Kashmir. He did his best to interfere," Sinha said, referring to a surge of militancy that accompanied September 16-October 8 legislative assembly vote in the restive state.

"Now if this is the value of the commitment (Musharraf) made to the United States, then I told Mr Haass, it is for them to decide what to do. But I don't think we are in need of any advice on what to do.

"We will do what is conducive to us. The national interest is to ensure that cross-border terrorism sponsored, financed and supported by Pakistan comes to an end." 

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