Though the much-anticipated Indo-Pak foreign ministers’ meeting did not materialise here, India on Thursday said it did not perceive it as a setback and was looking forward to the visit of Shah Mahmood Qureshi to New Delhi for talks.
“Certainly not,” external affairs minister S.M. Krishna told PTI when asked whether the inability of the two foreign ministers to meet on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session here had been a setback.
“I have invited him (Qureshi) to come to Delhi after my Islamabad visit and I am looking forward to receiving him in New Delhi so the talks are going to continue,” he said.
Both sides have refrained from blaming each other, but Mr Qureshi indicated that India changed its mind while Krishna said Pakistan was not prepared to have talks.
“Well it takes two hands for a clap... My foreign secretary (Nirupama Rao) was ready... I called in the joint secretary who deals with Pakistan hoping that there would be talks with the foreign minister of Pakistan,” Mr Krishna said.
“He came here without his foreign secretary and well talks didn’t happen,” he said. “So the question of preparedness will have to be verified isn’t it?”
—PTI