India sidesteps reports of back-channel talks with Pak

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 8

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) did not directly comment on reports from Pakistan suggesting that backchannel talks on confidence-building measures with India had been going on for over a year.

Asked if India and Pakistan were engaged in talks at any level, the MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, “Our respective High Commissions exist and are functioning. They are an effective channel of communications. I have nothing more to share.”

Reports from Pakistan a fortnight had claimed that UAE had brokered the February 25 ceasefire. The latest reports appear to contradict the claim.

Asked about Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visiting Islamabad directly after his meeting with EAM S Jaishankar in Delhi, Bagchi said, “It is not for us to respond to that. India’s time-tested ties with Russia stand on own merit and our not influenced by other countries.”