Terrorism that continues to emanate from Pakistani soil will be high on the agenda of External Affairs Minister S M Krishna as he embarks on a mission to Pakistan on Wednesday, in an effort to bridge the trust deficit that has bedeviled the ties between the two countries.
The extent to which the Barack Obama administration will go to humour Pakistan is highlighted by the fact that its envoy to United Kingdom drove four hours to Manchester to ensure that a zealous American airline security does not body-scan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi ahead of his arrival in Washington.When Qureshi's commercial flight to the US stopped in Manchester this week, American Ambassador in London Louis B Susman drove four hours to be there.
"Our government has invariably made efforts to initiate the process of meaningful dialogue and adoption of peaceful means to resolve the issues but unfortunately the expansionist designs of India have remained the main hurdle in this regard," Abbasi said.
The Indian government has sent Union ministers Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Hardeep Singh Puri to represent India at the event.
While Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi is leading the Pakistani delegation for the Pak-US strategic talks beginning on Wednesday, it is Pak Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani who is actually in charge of running the show.
India maintains that it wants to be part of the project but cannot go ahead till its concerns with regard to security and issues related to pricing of gas are addressed.
With India's patience running out, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on Thursday asked his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi about the progress into the Mumbai terror attacks case and sought a quicker trial."I made enquiries about the progress they (Pakistan) have made about bringing to justice those who were responsible for the attack in Mumbai," said Krishna about his meeting with Qureshi in Kabul.
On Thursday, both countries announced that they would develop Kartarpur corridor in their respective areas, linking Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab's Gurdaspur district with the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan.
Surprised over reports that Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi had invited him for tea at the Roosevelt Hotel, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna has said that he never received any such invitation. "If he has invited me, then I don't know the mode of invitation through which it was conveyed to me, but let me be very honest that I have not received any invitation," Krishna told PTI.
Reacting to the embarrassing development, Khan chaired an emergency Cabinet meeting and took back the notification to extend services of General Bajwa.
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday appointed 2 deputy CMs besides allocating portfolios.
Pakistan has indicated its readiness for the foreign secretary-level talks on February 25, saying the two sides need to 'move forward' but insisted on resumption of composite dialogue covering Kashmir and other outstanding issues that is 'meaningful and result-oriented.'
"We are opposed to nuclear proliferation as well as an arms race in the region," he said, adding that Pakistan believes the launch of the Indian nuclear-powered submarine will affect strategic stability.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday met Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Omar Farooq, who had also met Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi earlier. Pakistani officials said that during the 30-minute meeting, Farooq briefed Zardari about the All Parties Hurriyat Conference's perspective of the ground realities in Kashmir.Earlier, the Pakistan foreign minister met Farooq, ahead of his meeting with his Indian counterpart S M Krishna on Monday.
India on Sunday rejected any back-channel talks with Pakistan and said no meaningful bilateral dialogue can take place unless that country took action against the Mumbai attack suspects. External Affairs Minister S M Krishna articulated India's position during his talks with his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the first highest-level contact between the countries since their Prime Ministers met at the Egyptian city of Sharm El-Sheikh in July.
External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi are expected to hold telephonic talk on Tuesday to discuss ways to reduce trust deficit in pursuance to the decision reached between prime ministers of the two countries in Thimphu.
Pakistani authorities have a tendency to "pass the buck" and exaggerate differences with India over the sharing of river waters though mismanagement within the country is resulting in the loss of 34 million acre feet of water, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Quereshi said on Friday.
Qureshi's comments came in the wake of the Indian Army officials' remarks that the doctrine, which is reviewed every five years at the Army's Shimla-based Training Command, will now include scenarios such as a two-front simultaneous war with both China and Pakistan.
A day after India gave "additional information" to Pakistan on the Mumbai terror attacks, Union External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on Saturday said that New Delhi will keep providing more evidence to Islamabad "as and when" it is collected.
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An inexplicable last-minute switch in the schedule of External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on Thursday afternoon gives a clue to how the script went wrong in the Indo-Pak talks in Islamabad.
Amid rising tensions in Indo-Pak ties after the Mumbai attacks, a number of world leaders, including British Foreign Secretary David Miliband and German Chancellor Angela Markel, held consultations with the Pakistani leadership to prevent the escalation of the crisis.
Terrorists targeted Pakistan's powerful Inter State Intelligence for the second time in less than a month on Tuesday, as suicide bombers struck its office in eastern Multan city detonating their vehicle packed with up to 1,000 kg of explosives, killing at least 12 people and injuring 47 others.
'Pakistan has received assurances that no dispensation in Afghanistan will be inimical to Pakistani interests and that Pakistan will have a say in the determination of the future of the region. India would definitely not be part of the new order if the US could help it.'
Seeking resumption of composite dialogue, Pakistan has said that India must "act responsibly" and stop being negative or it too will lose interest in taking the peace process forward.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Thursday briefed United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Pakistan's investigation into the Mumbai terror attacks and the trial of suspects linked to the incident.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has blamed India of being trapped in a 'Cold War mindset' and said New Delhi is not serious in resolving issues through talks with Islamabad, which were resumed last month after a 14 month long hiatus.
Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani will not attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting later this month, effectively ruling out the possibility of talks with his Indian counterpart, Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of the summit. Pakistan will be represented by Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi at the meeting to be held at Port of Spain in Trinidad and Tobago during November 27-29, official sources told PTI.
The two American men arrested for their plans to travel to Somalia to join an Al Qaeda linked group and attack US troops, were denied bail on their second court appearance in New York
Shiv Sena has sacked party workers who blackened the face of a Right to Information activist in Latur in Marathwada region, Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray said in Mumbai on Saturday.
Kerry, chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who last week stood side-by-side with Qureshi and declared there are no conditions attached to the aid and that the bill in no way impinges on Pakistan's sovereignty, reiterated these assertions and also out a lengthy fact sheet which he said, separates "myth from fact on the Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act of 2009."
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Wednesday said that the perpetrators of the terror attack on Mumbai are not friends of Islamabad and such terror organisations need to be checked, curtailed and shut. "Those who carried out the Mumbai terrorist attack that killed 166 innocent people are not friends of Pakistan," Qureshi, who is on a visit to United States, said at the Council of Foreign Relations, a Washington-based think tank.
Foreign ministers of India and Pakistan have sparred over the 26/11 probe with Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi accusing New Delhi of non-cooperation, prompting his Indian counterpart S M Krishna to ask the 'people who are sitting in the epicentre of terror' to introspect before making such allegations.
Pakistan is likely to walk out from the forthcoming summit on Afghanistan -- scheduled to be held in London on January 28 -- in protest against India being touted by the West to play a greater role in Afghanistan.
As Indo-Pak Foreign Ministers are set to meet in New York, Pakistan appears to be under tremendous pressure from US and its allies to ensure that it convincingly addresses India's concerns on terrorism, including Mumbai attacks, and does nothing that derails all efforts to revive the bilateral peace process.
On the eve of their crucial talks, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna had a friendly chat with his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi on the sidelines of an informal working dinner of SAARC Foreign Ministers in New York
External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on Wednesday said he was 'sceptical' about the outcome of his meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi, in the absence of Pakistan acting against the perpetrators of the terror attack on Mumbai. He also urged the United States to be more 'circumspect' in providing aid to Pakistan that was being diverted for use against India. Krishna is scheduled to meet Qureshi on September 27.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Wednesday said he is not expecting any "major breakthrough" in the upcoming meeting with his Indian counterpart S M Krishna though his country continues to be hopeful that bilateral relations will improve.
Talking to Najam Sethi on his Dunya News programme on Sunday, Durrani said that the then Foreign Affairs Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto also had no idea that India would cross the international border.
Labour MP from Birmingham Perry Barr Khalid Mahmood said it had become necessary to "profile" passengers from certain racial and religious groups to weed out possible terror suspects. "I think most people would rather be profiled than blown up... It wouldn't be victimisation of an entire community," he said.
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