Pak FM 'unwilling' to visit India unless talks result-oriented

Rezaul H Laskar
Islamabad, Jul 18 (PTI) Upping the ante, Pakistan Foreign
Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said he is unwilling to
travel to New Delhi for talks unless India is prepared to hold
a "meaningful, constructive and result-oriented" dialogue to
resolve outstanding issues.
"I do not want to visit India for a leisure trip. I want
to go for meaningful, constructive and result-oriented talks
if the right atmosphere prevails and if they are fully
prepared (for talks)," Qureshi said Saturday night after
addressing a joint news conference with visiting British
Minister Sayeeda Warsi.
He was responding to a question from reporters on
whether he would travel to New Delhi for talks in view of
Indian government's current position.
Following a meeting with Qureshi here on Thursday,
India's External Affairs Minister S M Krishna had announced
that he had invited his Pakistani counterpart to visit India
for the next round of their parleys.
Qureshi reiterated his assertion that Krishna had come
to Pakistan with a limited mandate.
"At our talks, I said that they (Indian side) should
raise terrorism if it was among their priorities because it is
also our concern. You can raise (the) Mumbai (attacks) but we
have our concerns," he said.
Among Pakistan's concerns was the situation in Jammu and
Kashmir state in north India, where curfew had been imposed
and there were killings, he said.
Qureshi contended that India raised its concerns and
"then became selective" in taking on Pakistan's concerns.
"If you (India) are answerable to your people on
terrorism, we too are a democracy and have to satisfy our
people," he said.
Qureshi said he had not raised any issues with Krishna
that were not part of the eight components of the composite
dialogue.
This was done because Pakistan does not want the four
years of efforts made through the composite dialogue to go
waste, he said. PTI RHL
MRD