Islamabad, July 18: Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has denied having said that his Indian counterpart S.M. Krishna was getting directions from New Delhi during the talks the two leaders held here earlier this week.
“I had never said that Indian external (affairs) minister repeatedly went out during the meeting to receive instructions from Delhi,” Qureshi was quoted as saying by The News.
The denial comes despite his televised comments on Friday, a day after the talks, in which he openly said Krishna was getting phone calls from New Delhi to receive policy directions.
“India was narrowing the dialogue… The Indian foreign minister received foreign policy directions from New Delhi repeatedly during our meeting,” Qureshi said in the televised press conference while Krishna was still in Islamabad.
On Saturday, Qureshi also said he would visit India only if he is assured that the neighbouring country had the “intention to hold meaningful and result oriented dialogue”.
“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,” he told reporters late Saturday.
Krishna said Thursday that he had invited Qureshi to visit India for the next round of their parleys.
The Pakistani foreign minister also accused “some extremist forces in India” of not being in favour of successful India-Pakistan talks.
“Pakistan was willing to hold a frank and candid dialogue on all issues but India had a limited agenda,” he said maintaining the same line he had toed Friday.
He said: “India repeatedly talks about terrorism but it may be kept in mind that Pakistan has been playing a frontline role in the war on terror which is acknowledged by the world at large.”
–IANS