[Reader-list] Qureshi deals fresh blow to India-Pak talks

Syed ali shah Beelani syedbeelani at yahoo.com
Mon Jul 19 11:51:05 IST 2010


NEW DELHI: Any suggestion of even a semblance of a climbdown by Pakistan, after 
the heat generated by its foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi's outburst on 
Friday, was cast aside by Qureshi himself who said he was not going to go to 
India "for a leisure trip". 

With this, the fate of the talks now hangs in the balance as Indian officials 
interpreted the remark as a euphemism for Pakistan's insistence on making its 
action against India-specific terror groups subject to finding solutions to 
issues like Kashmir and Siachen. 

Qureshi also said he was referring only to a member of the Indian delegation, 
and not foreign minister S M Krishna, when he spoke about Indians talking to 
Delhi on phone during the dialogue but he quickly dispelled any notion about 
Pakistan reaching out to New Delhi in the wake of what has happened in the past 
few days with his 'leisure' trip remark. 

"I will not visit India for a leisure trip. I will only go if India is ready for 
meaningful, result-oriented and constructive talks and the environment is 
conducive for the parleys," he said. India had extended an invitation to Qureshi 
to visit Delhi later this year. 

As expected, the remark further exacerbated the situation with officials in 
India, stating that it was Islamabad which seemed intent on damaging the process 
of dialogue by not doing enough to address India's concerns over terrorism. 

Qureshi's remark has been seen in India as Pakistan's insistence on a timeframe 
for solutions to issues like Kashmir and Siachen, one of the main reasons for 
the collapse of the talks on Thursday. "There are certain issues which have been 
there for decades and it is impossible to stipulate a time period for their 
solution. 
Pakistan can't blackmail us into solving these issues by combining them with its 
action against India-specific terror groups," said an official, adding that 
Pakistan's sudden belligerence on Kashmir was an attempt to fish in what 
Islamabad sees as troubled waters of the state. 

While the government was willing to be guided by the assurances provided to PM 
Manmohan Singh by his 
Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani in Thimphu, the Congress party itself 
is not amused by the turn of events in the past few days. Party sources said 
that at a time when more and more evidence is tumbling out to prove involvement 
of Pakistan state agencies in 26/11, there is no question of initiating the 
composite dialogue process in any other guise unless there is tangible action 
taken by Pakistan to dismantle the terror infrastructure. 

Almost authenticating India's apprehension further, Qureshi also said India was 
not addressing Pakistan's concerns. "We listened to their concerns about Mumbai 
and terrorism and they too should have listened to our reservations. If they are 
answerable to their people, we too as a democracy are answerable to parliament 
and people of Pakistan," he said.



      


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