Although there seemed to be no meeting ground, neither side was ready to term today's talks an outright failure. Aware that the international community was watching how the world's newest nuclear powers resolved their first post-Pokharan stand-off, both ministers harped on the commitment of their respective governments to the Lahore Declaration.

But Singh put the ball squarely in Pakistan's court. ``We made our position veryclear. The onus is on Pakistan to make its bonafides clear. We now await Pakistan's response to our demand for the vacation of the aggression,'' he asserted.

He evaded questions on whether Aziz had invited him to Islamabad for another round of talks next weeks. However, he made it clear that India did not have ``the luxury to talk about talks''.

The separate press conferences by the two Foreign Ministers offered a study in contrast. While Aziz essentially repeated what he has been saying for the past two weeks, his tone seemed rather subdued and certainly less aggressive than Singh's. In fact, he appeared to have been caught off-guard by the questions thrown at him. And unlike his Indian counterpart who refused to comment on the nature of the talks, Aziz described them as ``a frank and useful discussion...both of us have a huge stake in restoring the Lahore Spirit...(but) this cannot happen by whipping up war-like hysteria.''Singh's appearance before the press, on the other hand, was a reiteration of thetough language he has used over the last few days, insisting that Paksitan fully vacate the armed intrusion and that the ``perpetrators'' of the torture of the Indian soldiers be punished.

Significantly, while Aziz denied Pakistani involvement in either, Singh maintained at his press conference that nowhere during the talks this morning did Aziz repudiate the recent statement by a Pakistani spokesman that Pakistani army regulars were participating in the conflict. He also said that the torture issue had been brought up twice during the talks and Aziz did not deny it.

The two foreign ministers began talks at Hyderabad House here this morning, but refused to speak to the press before or after. Pointedly, they didn't shake hands even for the television cameras; their body language indicated that the talks had ended even before they had begun.

Singh later said as much. ``There is no dialogue as such. Please be clear of any such misunderstanding. These talks have taken place at the request of the PrimeMinister of Pakistan. To call it a dialogue would be to classify a misnomer,'' he said.

Aziz insisted that the crisis along the LoC was only a part of the ``Kashmir jehad that has been going on for 10 years now.'' Repeatedly, he sought to link the intrusion to the Kashmir dispute, and denied outright that the infiltrators were sponsored by Pakistan. ``Who are they, what degree of intrusion is it; we have never accepted they are Pakistani,'' he said.He said the cause of the problem was the ``confusion'' that resulted from the fact that the LoC was not demarcated on the ground. Accepting that the Shimla agreement had delineated it on various maps, he pointed out that since the markers on the ground were 25-30 metres apart, the ``actual situation was that when the snows melted, some heights and posts were taken.''

Consequently, he said, there was a need to ``verify the LoC'', and suggested that the United Nations military observer group for India and Pakistan be expanded.

Asked about India's reaction tothe proposal, the Indian External Affairs said bluntly, ``I have no recollections that relate to strengthening, enhancing or even a mention of any proposal relating to UN monitors.''