New Delhi: India on October 22 ruled out bilateral talks between Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf on the sidelines of the Islamabad SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation) Summit scheduled for January.

"There is no question of Summit-level dialogue to start with", External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha said, adding, "It is a multilateral process for which he (Vajpayee) will go to Pakistan."

Asked if Vajpayee would hold bilateral talks during the Islamabad SAARC Summit, Sinha said, "No meaningful, productive and sustained dialogue can take place if Pakistan carried on with cross-border terrorism as an instrument of state policy."

Briefing reporters on India's 12 fresh proposals to take the Indo-Pak peace process forward, the Minister made a distinction between the multilateral forum of seven-nation SAARC and bilateralism, saying that Vajpayee and Musharraf were present in New York, Kuala Lumpur and Almaty for international conferences but did not hold bilateral parleys.

Observing that he was not aware of anything happening behind the scenes, the Minister said, "India is very serious with the peace process with Pakistan...We will work overtime to make this succeed."

PTI