New Delhi, July 23 - The India-Pakistan joint statement issued in Egypt was a 'diplomatic paper' not a legal document, Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor said Thursday, reiterating that what mattered was 'not the perception of words on paper' but the conduct of Islamabad in preventing future acts of terror.

'It is a diplomatic paper that is released to the press -- different from legal papers. Ultimately what matters is not the perception of words on paper, it is the conduct of government,' Tharoor told reporters outside parliament on the statement released after a meeting between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani in Sharm-el-Sheikh.

He said Manmohan Singh had made his stance on talks in the joint statement 'very clear'. 'We have said that India cannot go for a composite dialogue with Pakistan, until and unless we have we have absolute assurances and we have seen credible action from Pakistan.'

The minister added that 'it is not the language of the statement alone that writes policy'.

'It's all very well for the people to say that somehow India's interest compromised by few words on a piece of paper that is not a legal document. It is a diplomatic paper that is released to the press - different from the legal papers,' said Tharoor.

Responding to reports in the Pakistani media that Gilani had handed a dossier containing proof of India's involvement in 'subversive activities' in Pakistan to Manmohan Singh in Sharm el-Sheikh, Tharoor said he was unaware about it.