NEW DELHI: India on Monday blamed Pakistan for derailing the dialogue process by holding talks with Kashmir’s Hurriyat Conference leaders but said there was “no full stop” in diplomatic relations and people always moved forward after short pauses.
Press Trust of India quoted Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj as suggesting at a public function that there may be a window for resumption of talks in the near future. Ms Swaraj was releasing her ministry’s report on the completion of 100 days of the Modi government.
Questioning the rationale behind Pakistan holding talks with leaders of the Kashmiri resistance, Ms Swaraj said it was not “too much” to accept from Pakistan that it should not interfere in the internal matters of India.
However, when asked about future strategy in dealing with Pakistan, she said: “There is no full stop in diplomacy, it’s always comas and semi colon. And, after all this, people always move forward. There are no full stops in diplomatic journey.”
Asked if Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet his Pakistan counterpart Nawaz Sharif on the sideline of UN General Assembly in New York later this month,
Ms Swaraj was quoted as saying it would depend on how the situation emerges in coming days and that they were not going there with any “preset mind”.
Noting that consequent to the meeting between Mr Modi and Mr Sharif, who had come here for swearing-in of Mr Modi, it was decided that the two foreign secretaries would meet in Islamabad on Aug 25.
“I do not know what was the need for their High Commissioner to invite the Kashmiri separatists and talk to them. He himself invited them. Why they derailed the talks (with India)? What did they achieve?....Who derailed the initiative? (It is) Pakistan,” she said.
Ms Swaraj also expressed India’s disappointment in the delayed trial of Mumbai terror attack case in Pakistan while drawing a distinction between 2008 attacks in the country’s commercial capital and bomb blasts in Samjhauta Express in 2007.
Presenting a ‘report card’ of 100 days in office, she also talked about wide range of foreign policy-related developments including inviting Saarc leaders to the swearing-in of Modi government, priority to neighbourhood by visiting Bhutan and Nepal, upcoming visit of the Chinese president and Mr Modi’s high- profile visit to the US later this month.
Mr Modi will hold bilateral talks with US President Barack Obama on Sept 30 apart from addressing the UN General Assembly in New York, PTI quoted Ms Swaraj as saying.
Published in Dawn, September 9th, 2014
