Islamabad, July 16: The foreign ministers’ meetings between India and Pakistan all but collapsed in a welter of accusations with Islamabad accusing India of being “selective” in its approach on talks by sticking to 2008 Mumbai attacks.
A day after their parleys ended amidst sharp differences on key issues, the two foreign ministers addressed their home audiences, Qureshi in Islamabad and Krishna immediately after landing in Delhi to give their versions of what transpired.
Nevertheless, both the ministers refrained from calling the talks as having failed, with Krishna maintaining that the “extensive and serious discussions” had resulted in better understanding of each other’s position. Qureshi said there was no “deadlock” and that Pakistan would wait till India was “ready”.
Pakistan said the dialogue cannot move forward till its concerns were understood by India and made it clear that there can be no progress if Kashmir was not discussed.
“Kashmir has been part of our negotiations. It is a disputed territory. It is not possible to delink Kashmir from the negotiations,” Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told reporters here.
“If we focus more only on those issues which India gives importance to and ignores those considered important by Pakistan, then I don’t think the talks can move forward,” he said.
“Pakistan is ready for talks but dialogue should be substantive, meaningful and result-oriented. Pakistani people cannot be delinked from the prevailing situation in Jammu and Kashmir,” Qureshi said.
“We are ready to engage, we are ready to negotiate any time, anywhere and we are not in a hurry. We will wait till they (India) are ready,” he said.
He said Pakistan wanted a roadmap for the future as an outcome of the talks but the Indian side felt they did not have the mandate to make such a commitment.
Qureshi said it would not make sense to discuss aspects like cultural and trade relations while ignoring “core” issues like Jammu and Kashmir, peace and security and Siachen.
“It is the nature of India-Pakistan talks that whenever there is progress, there is always a last minute hitch. There was no hitch from Pakistan’s side,” he said.
“India was narrowing the dialogue and we said you cannot be selective,” Qureshi said.
It was clear from Qureshi’s comments that Pakistan was insisting on Kashmir being a core issue in the discussions and on there being a “road-map” in addressing all bilateral matters.
“We understand India’s concerns and want to address them. But Pakistan also has its concerns and core issues which should be understood by India,” he said.
Taking a dig at Krishna, Qureshi said the “Indian Foreign Minister received foreign policy directions from New Delhi repeatedly through phone calls during our meeting”.
On his part, the Pakistan Foreign Minister said he did not step out of the talks to “attend any phone calls”.
The issues between India and Pakistan were already identified and part of the eight segments of the composite dialogue that had continued for four years, Qureshi said.
“If they want to confine those issues, it becomes difficult for Pakistan,” he said.
The two foreign ministers had at a joint news conference on Thursday said that their meeting had been “constructive”, and agreed to meet again.

KASHMIR TOPPED AGENDA
According to reports, at Thursday’s talks between the two foreign ministers the Kashmir factor dominated the agenda, with Pakistan bringing up the recent disturbances in Jammu and Kashmir and questioning India on “human rights violations” in the state.
Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that three Kashmiri organisations had written to him to highlight Kashmir during the Indo-Pak talks.
“Three organisations wrote to me and wanted me to highlight Kashmir during the talks and I did. There were issues of human rights violations and imposition of curfew, use of Indian armed forces and loss of the lives, which are issues of concern for everyone, including the elected government in Jammu and Kashmir,” said Qureshi.

‘NOTHING TO DO WITH INFILTRATION’
Qureshi declared emphatically Thursday that Pakistan had nothing to do with the infiltration of militants from his country into Jammu and Kashmir.
Qureshi said: “Infiltration is not the policy of Pakistan or any intelligence agency of Pakistan.”
Qureshi’s comments came soon after Krishna said that there had been an increase in infiltration of militants from Pakistan into Jammu and Kashmir so as to create instability ‘in that part of India’.

Lastupdate on : Fri, 16 Jul 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
Lastupdate on : Fri, 16 Jul 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sat, 17 Jul 2010 00:00:00 IST