Pak blames “divisions in Indian polity” for stalled dialogue

Pakistan Foreign Minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi.

Pakistan has said “political compulsions” and “divisions in Indian polity” were preventing India from holding dialogue with Islamabad, after the foreign ministers of the two countries avoided a meeting despite being under the same roof.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who represented Pakistan at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meet in Port of Spain said, he came face-to-face with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Indian counterpart S.M. Krishna but did not hold any dialogue.

“Well we did get a chance to meet, we were under the same roof. I met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, I met Foreign Minister Krishna but there was no dialogue,” Mr. Qureshi said.

He said despite acknowledging at a bilateral meeting in at Sharm-el-Sheikh that dialogue was the only way forward for the two countries, India did not yet appear to be ready.

“There are political compulsions, lack of consensus on what to do. So whenever they are ready they know how to get in touch with me,” Mr. Qureshi told Times Now in Port of Spain.

“... Now it seems India is yet not ready perhaps because of domestic considerations, perhaps because of a division in Indian polity,” he said.

India was not keen on a meeting between Foreign Ministers of the two countries as it is disappointed over Pakistan’s response to its demand for action against those involved in the Mumbai attacks.

India, which has put the composite dialogue process on hold after the Mumbai terror attack, avoided a meeting with the Pakistani side in Port of Spain despite the two being at the same venue for three days.