NEW DELHI, July 21: Pakistan and India struggled to hide their exasperation with each other at the start of a fifth round of ‘composite dialogue’ between their foreign secretaries here on Monday.

New Delhi warned that the recent attack on its embassy in Kabul had put the talks under stress. Islamabad said given its enormous sacrifices it could not be put on probation in the war on terror.

A source close to the talks between Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir and his Indian counterpart Shivshankar Menon described the atmosphere at the Hyderabad House as unexpectedly muddied. Mr Menon is believed to have told Mr Bashir that not only had the dialogue been put under stress but the talks were also at risk following the devastating attack in Kabul on July 7.

After the round of the dialogue on peace and security, Jammu and Kashmir and other confidence-building measures (CBMs), Mr Menon told reporters that the talks were happening at a “difficult time of our relationship with Pakistan”.

“Unfortunately, there have been several issues in the recent past which have vitiated the atmosphere and the composite dialogue process is under stress,” Mr Menon said.

In this context, he referred to recent alleged violations of the ceasefire along the Line of Control, cross-border terrorism and alleged incitement to violence in Jammu and Kashmir.

“There have been public statements by some leaders in Pakistan, who are reverting to the old polemics,” Mr Menon said, adding that all these things had culminated in the suicide bombing at the Indian embassy.

“Our investigations so far point towards a few elements in Pakistan to be behind the blast,” he said, but refused to identify the elements, saying investigations were continuing.

At his separate news conference after the talks, Mr Bashir tried to give a positive spin to his meeting with Mr Menon, whom, he said, he regarded with considerable respect.

However, a correspondent’s question about the Kabul blast seemed to change the mood. “Please don’t consider Pakistan to be on probation. We do not have to prove our credentials to anyone. We are engaged at the forefront of the fight against terror. Pakistan is not the epicentre of terrorism,” he declared.

Mr Bashir obliquely blamed Afghanistan for starting the current round of accusations. Though he did not name Kabul directly, he left no one in doubt about the foreign location where Pakistan’s name was being besmirched with unhelpful allegations.

If Pakistan were to get involved in the blame game, it too had a litany of issues in Balochistan and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas where it could point the finger at India, but this was not what he had done in the talks, Mr Bashir said. “We have faced terrorism in our cities and towns for far too long,” he said in response to a question from a western journalist. More than 100,000 troops were engaged in fighting the scourge, and many had been lost, he said.

“Please do not create impediments. I am not saying this to India but to the international community... Please do not make statements that make it difficult for us to address the issues at hand. Don’t make statements that hurt us,” he said.

While Mr Bashir said he savoured the tea and biscuits as well as a sumptuous lunch thrown between the two rounds of talks, there were those close at hand who thought that the absence of an official dinner was a giveaway that relations needed a lot of tweaking.Officials said the next opportunity could be in Colombo on the margins of the Saarc summit in early August when the foreign secretaries, their ministers and prime ministers might be able to stop the slide.

GOOD NEWS: There was some good news for Kashmiris wanting to cross the LoC.