Further acrimony after Indo-Pak talks

Priyanka Tikoo and Rezaul H Laskar
New Delhi/Islamabad, Jul 16 (PTI) Indo-Pak dialogue
Friday descended into acrimony with Pakistan Foreign Minister
Shah Mahmood Qureshi accusing India of being "selective" in
its approach, a suggestion rejected by his counterpart S M
Krishna.
A day after their parleys ended amidst sharp
differences on key issues, the two Foreign Ministers addressed
their home audiences, Qureshi in Islamabad and Krishna
immediately after landing in Delhi to give their versions of
what transpired.
Qureshi, speaking to Pakistani journalists while
Krishna was still in Islamabad, put aside diplomatic niceties
by saying that the Indian delegation was not "fully prepared"
for the talks and that his Indian counterpart had repeatedly
sought directions from Delhi as the deliberations were on.
Krishna, on his part, refused to engage in "scoring
debating points" but firmly said he had not called Delhi even
once as he had a clear mandate. He dismissed Qureshi's comment
as "extraordinary".
It was clear from Qureshi's comments that Pakistan was
insisting on Kashmir being a core issue in the discussions and
on there being a "road-map" in addressing all bilateral
matters.
The Pakistani minister held out a veiled threat
by stating, "if we focus more 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."
Nevertheless, both the ministers refrained from
calling the talks as having failed, with Krishna maintaining
that the "extensive and serious discussions" had resulted in
better understanding of each other's position. Qureshi said
there was no "deadlock" and that Pakistan would wait till
India was "ready". (More) PTI