ISLAMABAD Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi upped the ante on Saturday by ruling out a visit to New Delhi unless India was ready for a 'serious and meaningful dialogue' on all contentious issues.
“I will not visit India for a leisure trip, I would only go if India is ready for meaningful, result-oriented and constructive talks and the environment is conducive for the parleys,” Mr Qureshi told reporters at the Foreign Office. The trust-building talks between India and Pakistan ended in a deadlock on Thursday, leading to an exchange of barbs and adding bitterness to an already tense relationship.
Besides agreeing on keeping engaged, the only other major outcome of the failed talks was an invitation from Indian External Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna for Mr Qureshi to visit New Delhi for another round of talks.
While Mr Qureshi has now made acceptance of the invitation conditional on India's willingness to talk on all issues that have marred relations for decades, he also feels that Indians are not yet ready for it. His words are being interpreted to mean that he is turning down the Indian invitation.
Mr Qureshi reiterated his allegation that Indians were bent on cherry-picking the issues, which did not augur well for the talks.
“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”.
It seemed as if the foreign minister was at a loss to understand the Indian resistance to discussing Pakistan's concerns.
The issues raised at the meeting, he said, were not new and were all part of the suspended Composite Dialogue.
Mr Qureshi, who created a stir on Friday by disclosing that someone from New Delhi was directing the Indian delegation over telephone, made another revelation that he and Mr Krishna had agreed on certain points, including preventing the gains made through Composite Dialogue from being lost. But the agreement vanished after 'directions' from New Delhi kept reminding Mr Krishna and his delegation that those issues were beyond their mandate.
The foreign minister clarified that it was not Mr Krishna, who was on phone, rather it was one of the delegates who kept updating New Delhi and receiving instructions.
Mr Krishna denied being guided by New Delhi in the talks. Mr Qureshi found Indian intransigence 'against the Thimphu spirit'.
He said if the two prime ministers had agreed in Thimphu on reengaging and discussing all issues, then why was the scope of talks restricted subsequently.
