ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was clearly not the in-charge of Indian foreign minister’s dialogue on Thursday, as his Minister for External Affairs S M Krishna was certainly not being guided by the South Block.New Delhi was not on one page as suddenly, Krishna balked at including Jammu & Kashmir and the Siachen Glacier for discussion in a future roadmap.Why? As soon as Krishna stepped on Pakistani soil, he was hit by a statement by his home secretary, who came out with a vicious statement that even Krishna could not repeat during the joint press conference.
It was Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi who on Friday spilled the beans when at a function in the capital, he said: “I did not leave the talks even once to discuss the progress by telephone. But why did instructions keep coming in from New Delhi in the presence of the Indian foreign minister?”
Accusing India of being “selective” in its approach, Qureshi said that the dialogue could not move forward till Pakistan’s concerns were also understood by New Delhi. “If we focus only on those issues which India gives importance to and ignore those considered important by Pakistan, then I don’t think the talks can move forward,” he added.
As The News reported on Friday, Krishna agreed to include all segments in the future talks to be taken up in the next round, but he refused to add Jammu & Kashmir and the Siachen Glacier. This at a time when atrocities against the Kashmiris are at their height.
Qureshi still felt that both countries could find a way forward. “There are difficulties and we need to find a way to handle them. 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 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. “India was narrowing the dialogue and we said you cannot be selective,” Qureshi said.
“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.“Pakistan is ready for talks but the dialogue should be substantive, meaningful and result-oriented. Pakistani people and Kashmiris cannot be delinked from the situation in Jammu and Kashmir,” Qureshi said.
“There will not be any hitch from Pakistan side. I am ready to negotiate on any issue. I will not call it a deadlock. But I will say Pakistan’s approach yesterday (Thursday) was solid and constructive and we wanted to move forward,” Qureshi added.
Qureshi made it clear that Pakistan was not willing to back down on its historical position on the Kashmir issue. He joined issues with Krishna on his assertion that any human rights violations and law and order problems in Jammu & Kashmir would be handled by the state’s elected government.
“It was already decided that Kashmir is part of our talks and that it is a disputed territory. If it is said that Pakistan’s people and Kashmiris should become delinked from the situation inside (J&K), that is not possible,” he said.
“There may be mechanisms in India to watch human rights violations but if the army is being deployed to maintain law and order, there is curfew in many cities, strikes across Jammu & Kashmir and innocent people are being affected, how can Pakistan become delinked?” he said.
“The government of Indian-occupied Kashmir is also looking forward to this dialogue and is keen there is some forward movement vis-a-vis this dialogue because they understand the difficulties they are undergoing at the moment.”
Agencies add: Talking to newsmen here at the Foreign Service Academy after attending the certificate distribution ceremony of the newly-trained probationers of the Foreign Service, Foreign Minister Qureshi said India was not yet mentally prepared for the resumption of the dialogue process with Pakistan and was just interested in discussing only some specific issues. “India is not seen mentally ready for the resumption of talks,” he told a questioner.
He said although the Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and External Affairs Minister S M Krishna had a positive approach and thinking for resuming the talks, yet there were some other problems being faced by the Indian leadership in the revival of the dialogue process.
He said the progress achieved in the dialogue process, which started in 2004 and continued till 2008, should not be wasted due to some unknown reasons. Those issues and segments for which modalities have been already decided between the two countries should not be reopened, he added.
Qureshi said when he met his Indian counterpart on Tuesday night, he was in good spirit and during informal meeting in the presence of two foreign secretaries, modalities for the talks were almost finalised. But something happened overnight and there was a bit of change in the stance of Indian external affairs minister, he said.
As Foreign Minister Qureshi, after attacking India’s home secretary in a tense final press conference between the ministers, also appeared to question Krishna’s authority when he accused the Indian foreign affairs minister of taking calls from New Delhi during talks, Krishna called this an “extraordinary statement to make” as he arrived back at New Delhi airport and said he did not take calls from anyone during the negotiations.
Overlooking Qureshi’s comments, which provoked a furious reaction among Indian commentators, he attempted to put a more positive spin on the meeting, saying it had helped to build confidence.
“I think we have contributed in a manner where the trust deficit is getting reduced and it is part of the confidence building measures,” he said. Expressing unhappiness about Pakistan’s attempts to equate Home Secretary G K Pillai’s statement on ISI’s alleged links to 26/11 to the anti-India hate speeches made by JuD chief Hafiz Saeed, Krishna said: “Where is the question of comparison between these two statements. Saeed is a person who had been speaking out of turn against India. He has been trying for Jihad against India, and we have always said that such people in Pakistan who incite anti-India propaganda will not help smoothen our relationship.
“Mr Pillai is supposed to have made a statement to a particular newspaper, and it contains whatever we have known from the interrogation of David Headley by FBI in the US,” he said, adding: “We have access to Headley, so there is no comparison between the two.”
On Pakistan’s charge that India was shying away from a timeline for normalising the relationship, Krishna responded, “In diplomatic parleys, we don’t go by a timeline unless it is absolutely necessary. No one could fix a timeline for the type of issues we discussed. The question of timeline was not possible or feasible.
“With reference to 26/11, we did not insist on a timeline. We said that terror is the biggest obstacle between the two countries. Positive action has to be taken by the Pakistani leadership against the perpetrators of the act,” he added.
To a question as to whether the talks were successful, Krishna said: “The very fact that I went to Islamabad and I talked about the core issues involved, if you consider that as a gain then I am willing to go along with it.
“We talked about the burning issues that confront us. All this was discussed in great detail. We contributed in manner that the trust deficit gets reduced,” he added.
Krishna said: “I am not going to score debating points over Qureshi. I would like to concentrate on serious issues. The fact of the matter is that we did discuss serious issues that confront both of us and I do believe that we did make some headway.
“I have invited him to come to India and I am looking to resume the dialogue from where we left it yesterday.” India’s main opposition party, which has been opposed to the talks with Pakistan from the start, demanded the government break off the dialogue.
“India should call off the talks now,” Sushma Swaraj, senior leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party, told the Times Now news channel. “The government should rethink. They should not engage in a dialogue if Pakistan continues this attitude.”Indian and Pakistani newspapers were also rife with mutual recrimination about the latest talks on Friday.