A day after the marathon ministerial engagement with India failed to make any headway, Pakistan on Friday indicated its unwillingness to return to the negotiating table for another open-ended dialogue just to keep up appearances.
Though Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi maintained that there was no deadlock and Islamabad was ready to “negotiate anytime, anywhere,'' there were indications of refusal to talk for the sake of talking. “We do not want to just provide photo opportunities,'' a Foreign Office official said.
India's selective approach to dialogue has peeved Pakistan. It wanted all issues taken up in tandem. “Talking about Kashmir does not mean we have to reach a conclusion immediately. But our contention is that the two sides should also talk about our core concerns because that was the mandate given by the two Prime Ministers in Thimphu,” he said.
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