No US bashing at four-nation summit: Menon

There is going to be no “America bashing” of any kind during the Brazil, Russia, India and China summit (BRICs), in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg on June 16.

There is going to be no “America bashing” of any kind during the Brazil, Russia, India and China summit (BRICs), in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg on June 16.

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“That’s an extreme word,” Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon said ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Russia, where he will also attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit.

Menon said the PM would attend the SCO meeting for the first time since observer nations (including India, Pakistan and Iran) have been invited to participate in all key deliberations at the summit. He said that India has not received any request from Pakistan for a meeting between the PM and President Asif Ali Zardari.

Singh and Zardari will be in the “same room, at the same place and at the same time”, but it would be difficult to predict whether their meeting would go beyond a handshake.

Asked if there had been any change in India’s attitude towards Pakistan on resuming the dialogue, Menon said Singh had recently spelt out Delhi’s position in Parliament.

India and Pakistan were in “constant touch” through their high commissioners and Delhi had no intention of “negotiating through the media”, Menon said.