NEW DELHI, April 5 (AFP)-India reaffirmed Wednesday its rejection of Pakistan's proposals for a bilateral dialogue as long as Islamabad continues its alleged support for “cross-border terrorism.”

"There will be no dialogue with Islamabad unless and until it stops sponsoring cross-border terrorism against India," said India Home Minister L.K. Advani, quoted by the Press Trust of India. “Pakistan cannot go on killing people and press for dialogue at the same time. It must create conditions in which talks can be purposeful," he added.

New Delhi accuses Pakistan of fomenting the resistance movement in Kashmir and northeast India. Islamabad denies the charge, but extends open diplomatic support to the Kashmir Islamists.

Peace talks between the two South Asian rivals have been suspended since last summer when New Delhi launched a massive military offensive against Pakistan-backed forces who crossed the disputed Indo-Pakistan border in Kashmir.

Pakistan made a formal offer last week to resume talks – a move rejected by New Delhi on the grounds that Islamabad had yet to create the "right conditions" for a fresh dialogue.

Speaking to reporters during a tour of the western state of Gujarat, Advani also stressed that talks with Islamists in Kashmir could only begin once they renounced the use of violence.

"The government is willing to hold talks with militants on every demand, legitimate or perverse, if they abandon the path of violence," said Advani.

In the meantime, India's policy towards the Kashmir jihad would be "firm and nasty," he added. More than 25,000 people have died in Islamist-linked violence in Kashmir since the launch of a Muslim independence drive against Indian rule in 1989.

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