India has ruled out the possibility of any diplomatic initiative for the resumption of talks with Pakistan until the Lok Sabha elections, likely to be held in April-May next year.

According to top sources, the laying of the foundation-stone of the Kartarpur Saheb Corridor by Pakistan did not mean the two countries were close to resuming their stalled dialogue. There was no change in India’s stand that terror and talks could not go together. ‘’The opening of the Kartarpur Saheb Corridor was a cultural and religious issue and not a diplomatic engagement between the two countries,’’ they added.

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Sources observed that even on the Kartarpur Saheb initiative, Pakistan had shown insincerity with its Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi describing it as a ‘googly’ bowled by Prime Minister Imran Khan, a former Pakistan Cricket captain.

On reports that India would soon invite officials from Pakistan to discuss logistics of the corridor, they said there was no proposal under consideration in this regard at this stage.

Sources explained that it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj who had sought to mend fences with Pakistan even before Imran Khan assumed office of the Prime Minister. But Khan had shown his inability to curb terror directed against India.

Expressing satisfaction over India’s achievements on the foreign policy front in 2018, sources talked about the great momentum in ties with China after the Doklam military stand-off in 2017. The ‘positive trajectory’ in Sino-Indian ties was there for the entire world to notice. New Delhi expected Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit India in the second half of 2019 for an informal summit after the Lok Sabha polls.

Sources said India’s relations with the US were also on the ‘right track’ and there were high-level engagements with Washington at different levels. They noted that Washington has given to India six months’ waiver from Iran-related sanctions. New Delhi expected the waiver to be extended beyond six months.

On ties with Russia, sources said the military partnership had maintained a healthy growth even as they expressed concern over the fact that the trade relationship had still not achieved its full potential.