London: Asserting that past agreements cannot be ignored, External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha on May 19 night said India and Pakistan will have to "talk about talks first" and dismissed Islamabad's claim that it has no control over the activities of militant groups.

"I don't think it is open to any set of countries to completely ignore agreements reached in the past and say we will begin with a new slate," Sinha said in an interview to BBC World.

He was asked why should things be different now since Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, who was seen by India as making things impossible to proceed, is still in charge in that country.

"We will have to keep on trying," he said, adding, "We will have to talk about talks first. We will have to find out what exactly and in what manner and what issues we should discuss and in what priority," he said.

Brushing aside Islamabad's claim that it had no control over militants, Sinha said, "Pakistan has shown plenty of willingness and ability to capture and handover almost 500 Afghan, Arab and other al-Qaida- linked terrorists to the US."

"We would expect similar action from the Pakistani government against terrorists targeting India as well."

Sinha said, "It is difficult to accept the Pakistani assertions that 70 to 80 per cent of terrorists came from outside the region and they are not in a position to control them."

On Pakistan's efforts to seek international mediation and define Kashmir as the core issue, Sinha recalled the Shimla Agreement, which required both India and Pakistan to settle all issues, including the Jammu and Kashmir, bilaterally.

PTI