India, Pakistan suffer morning-after blues
Islamabad/New Delhi, July 16: The dissonance in the India-Pakistan discourse continued into the morning after, but both sides were careful not to allow their differing narratives to torpedo their chances of remaining engaged.
The external affairs minister, Mr S.M. Krishna, who returned to New Delhi Friday after his three-day visit to Islamabad, described his talks with his Pakistan counterpart, Mr Shah Mahmood Qureshi, as useful in gaining a better appreciation of each other’s positions while Mr Qureshi maintained that the meeting did not end in a “deadlock”.
Divergences persisted on how to take the dialogue forward, with Pakistan insisting on talks “in tandem” on all issues and a calendar of future engagements.
India, on the other hand, was for “graduated and incremental steps”, preferring a bottom-up approach over the top-down approach preferred by Pakistan. India also maintained that a timeline would neither be possible nor feasible given the complexities in the relationship.
Mr Qureshi also took potshots at Mr Krishna.
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