[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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