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On his first day in South Block, newly appointed External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha told reporters that there has been no decline in cross-border infiltration.
Referring to Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf's May 24 speech in which he promised that Pakistan's soil won't be used for any terrorist activity anywhere in the world, Sinha said, "Immediately after this assurance, there was some reduction in infiltration, but the situation now is the same as it used to be before May 24."
Some time back, Defence Minister George Fernandes had said that infiltration from Pakistan had come down.
Asked about his priorities in the context of the current tensions between India and Pakistan, Sinha said, "They are already well-defined. I don't have to restate them."
"We are looking not only at the assurances from Pakistan but also into the credibility of their statements. Our response will depend on the actions of the Pakistani government," he said.
Sinha asserted that there is no scope for third-party involvement as far as the Jammu and Kashmir issue is concerned.
He told reporters that he would use his experience in the finance ministry to improve the external economic relations wing in the external affairs ministry.
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