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Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi
India on Wednesday underscored that it was too early to say whether there was a de-escalation of tension with Pakistan.
"We haven't discerned any long-term trend about cross-border shelling or whether there has been a lowering of tension (with Pakistan). It is too early to say," external affairs ministry spokeswoman Nirupama Rao said.
She did not agree with a suggestion that India had reason to worry on America's reaction to the "criminal incident in Kolkata" in which four policemen were killed by unknown assailants.
"I wouldn't regard it in that light. In fact, our cooperation with the US on counter-terrorism has been strengthened," she told a reporter who wanted to know why the Americans had not termed the incident as a terrorist attack
A K Bhandari, the special secretary in the home ministry, was investigating the attack on the United States Information Services office in Kolkata, she pointed out. He was due to return on Wednesday evening, after which the government hoped to have "more leads on the incident", she said.
She rejected another suggestion that India was under US pressure to normalise relations with Pakistan
"Our relations with the US have their own dynamics and are based on mutual national interests. They have gone from strength to strength," Rao said, adding, "no pressure is being put on us."
Asked to comment on Pakistan High Commissioner Ashraf Jahangir Qazi's presence on Tuesday in the reception hosted by President K R Narayanan, Rao said it did not mean that Indo-Pak ties had normalised.
"I would not read much...at least at this moment," she contended.
She clarified that Islamabad had not sought any discussion on New Delhi's list of 20 terrorists and criminals it wanted extradited from Pakistan.
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