Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, in a veiled attack on Pakistan, on Thursday said it was not possible to maintain peaceful talks with certain countries that “train guns at India”, PTI reported.

“It is baffling that some educated leaders are suggesting that we have to engage in a dialogue with one of our neighbours, who is by all accounts fomenting trouble and encouraging cross-border terrorism,” Naidu said, while addressing a gathering at the Indian Council of World Affairs in New Delhi. “We can’t have talks with countries that have trained their guns at us.”

India’s love for peace, Naidu said, is because it is concerned about the welfare of humanity. It is not because the country is weak or incapable of fighting, he added.

“So, our diplomacy relies on building bridges across the world with dialogue as the sole sustainable method to resolve disputes,” the vice president said. “We are open to conflicting views, but we are not so open to senseless violence and irrational terrorism...We have been pioneers in the non-aligned movement. Our alignment is with the forces of peace and non-violence,” he said.

The vice president’s remarks come just days after Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and suspended Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar said that dialogue was the only way for India and Pakistan to resolve their bilateral problems. They were referring to the ceasefire violations by Pakistan along the Line of Control on an almost daily basis over the past several weeks. Mufti had told the Assembly earlier in February that 49 policemen had died and 134 were injured across the state in the last two years in militant attacks.

Over the last week, militants attacked the Sunjuwan Army camp in Jammu, and a camp of the Central Reserve Police Force in Karan Nagar in Srinagar. Six soldiers, one civilian and three militants were killed in the Sunjuwan attack. A CRPF constable and two militants died in Karan Nagar. India claims these militants are from Pakistan, but Islamabad has repeatedly denied the allegations.