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No more de-escalation steps with Pakistan: India

NEW DELHI, Dec 12 (AFP) - India Thursday ruled out any more de-escalation steps with Pakistan until it ends what New Delhi terms "cross-border terrorism" in disputed Kashmir state.

"As cross-border infiltration and terrorist violence has not ended, the rest of the diplomatic and other measures taken against Pakistan are still in place," Junior Foreign Minister Digvijay Singh told the upper house of parliament.

"India's further response would be based on implementation of Pakistan's commitment to end cross-border infiltration and terrorism."

After a deadly militant attack on the Indian parliament last December 13, New Delhi applied a string of diplomatic strictures to Islamabad, and pushed hundreds of thousands of troops into battle-ready positions on the borders with Pakistan.

India claimed the rebels who brought the attack were sponsored by Pakistan, a claim Islamabad vehemently rejects.

The diplomatic penalties including snapping train and bus links, placing an overflight ban on Pakistani airliners, recalling its high commissioner (ambassador) from Islamabad and reducing the high commission strength by half.

Following national addresses by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on May 27 and June 6 in which he committed to ending the flow of rebels from Pakistan-administered Kashmir to the Indian zone, India lifted the overflight ban.

On October 16, after assembly elections in Indian Kashmir concluded, New Delhi announced a phased pullback of its troops from the border.

Diplomatic measures, including returning India's envoy and resuming transport links, have yet to resume.

New Delhi also steadfastly refuses to reopen dialogue with Pakistan on the future of Kashmir, despite constant international nudging, saying talks can only be resumed once "terrorism" ends.

In terms of the regional seven-nation SAARC, Singh said the grouping remained India's top priorty, but was not its responsibility alone, hinting that some members were not fulfilling their commitments in economic and other fields.

He did not name Pakistan, which on Monday announced a delay in the 12th South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit due to be held in Islamabad next month and gave no new dates.

It claimed India was attempting to sabotage the summit -- a charge New Delhi merely threw back at Islamabad.

India had given mixed signals on whether Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee would attend the summit, accusing Pakistan of delaying implementation of key economic decisions taken at the last summit in Kathmandu.

SAARC, founded in 1985 in Dhaka, comprises Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bhutan.

It has been largely ineffectual due to the constant feuding between its two largest members India and Pakistan, who have fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947 and came close to a fourth one this year.

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