Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has said that Islamabad would discuss all issues with India at the upcoming talks between the foreign secretaries of the two countries in New Delhi.
On being asked about the Swaraj-Qureshi meeting, the MEA sources said the two leaders only exchanged pleasantries.
Rejecting Pakistan's contentions, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Tuesday that there had been no escalation of tensions on the part of India and that its military movements were routine winter exercises.
Stepping up its offensive over Kashmir, Pakistan on Tuesday harped on giving the people there the right to 'self-determination' through 'plebiscite' and accused Indian security forces of 'brutality.'
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi termed as a 'positive development' the Joint Statement issued last week after talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani in Sharm-el Sheikh, Egypt, and said it needed to be taken forward.
The startling revelation by Pakistan's former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi that Raymond Davis, who allegedly killed two Pakistani citizens, does not enjoy blanket diplomatic immunity could lead to the conviction of the American national. Under such circumstance, paying Diyya (blood money) to the victims' families may be the only way for Davis, who has been charged for the murders under Pakistani law.
Shah Mehmood Qureshi said India should not accuse his country for terror attacks till their investigations were complete, and favoured further strengthening of the joint anti-terror mechanism. "I proposed to let the intelligence chiefs meet... There should be a hotline between the intelligence chiefs and national security advisers of India and Pakistan so that we can share information timely and collectively in dealing with the menace," Qureshi said.
It was evident that no preparatory exercise for political and inter-departmental consensus-building in New Delhi before embarking on the trust-building exercise in Islamabad was undertaken.
Pakistan termed as "presumptuous" India's contention that enough was not being done in the Mumbai attacks case on Sunday, saying the two countries would understand "each other's challenges and difficulties" only through engagement.
K Alan Kronstadt, a specialist in South Asian affairs for the US Congressional Research Service, on how more US oversight on funding to fight terror in Pakistan could help both countries and even India.
Pakistan has negated claims that the Kashmir issue was close to settlement through backchannel diplomacy between Islamabad and New Delhi, with the country's foreign minister saying there was no mention of such developments in the records of the Foreign Office.
The London Conference on Afghanistan will be an occasion which India could use to showcase its massive humanitarian efforts in war-ravaged countries, which many diplomats believe is "undervalued" and little understood by the international community. India is providing US $ 1.3 billion in aid to improve infrastructure, education and medical health of the beleaguered country.
Close on the heels of President Obama's announcement of the revamped Afghan strategy, Pakistan has said that it is concerned about the negative implications of the new US policy in Afghanistan.
Pak Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi 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.
Pakistan on Friday claimed that any talks between the Indian government and separatist Kashmiri leaders will not be successful without its involvement.
US President Barack Obama is expected to sign into law on Wednesday, the Kerry-Lugar bill for US $ 7.5 billion aid to Pakistan after two powerful Congressional committees issue an "explanatory statement" addressing concerns of its opponents, mainly the Pakistan Army.
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh could meet his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of the Commonwealth heads of government meeting scheduled to be held in November in Trinidad, sources said.However, when asked about the meeting, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna, who met his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi in New York on Sunday, said,: "We have just come out of one (meeting). So, give us some time."
India conveyed to Pakistan on Friday, that bilateral ties were under "considerable stress" due to terrorism emanating from its soil. In the second high-level meeting between the two countries, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna met his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi on the sidelines of the G-8 Foreign ministers meeting in Trieste, Italy and reviewed the current status of Indo-Pak relations.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, while talking to reporters at the airport in his hometown of Multan on Saturday, described the cooperation between the two countries "as the key to ensuring successful prosecution of the culprits" involved in the Mumbai attacks.
Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi stated this after a meeting with visiting NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, who sought deepening cooperation and developing political dialogue between Pakistan and the European military alliance to achieve common strategic objectives. Any 'activation on the eastern border' would affect Pakistan's involvement in the war on terror, Qureshi told a joint press conference after their talks.
Pakistan on Thursday strongly condemned the terror strikes in Mumbai and offered complete cooperation and support to India to fight the menace.
With investigators suggesting involvement of some Hindu outfits in cross-border Samjhauta Express train blast, the issue is all set to figure in the Indo-Pak Foreign Ministerial and Home Secretary-level talks next week.
Addressing a joint press conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron in New Delhi, Dr Singh said that India expected the world community to promote India's position that Pakistan will not allow its soil to be used for terrorism against India.
The United States has rejected Pakistan's request to mediate between it and India to help both resolve outstanding issues, including Kashmir and the river water sharing dispute. During a joint media interaction with Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in Islamabad, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made it clear that Washington would continue with its "hands off" policy concerning the Indo-Pak impasse.
Pakistani editors and analysts believe that India's stickiness to the sole issue of Mumbai attacks led to the failure of the talks.
Briefing leaders from PoK on its Kashmir policy ahead of crucial meetings with India to review the composite dialogue process, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi noted that the issue had remained "unresolved despite several attempts at bilateral and multilateral levels" over the last six decades. Pakistan "was ready to engage with India in a constructive dialogue to find a solution that is acceptable to all parties, in particular the people of Kashmir," he was quoted.
Ahead of a possible meeting between their prime ministers in Thimphu, Pakistan on Tuesday said it wanted the resumption of composite dialogue with India at the political level, as the outcome of parleys between the foreign secretaries had been 'disappointing'."I don't think a forward movement can take place at the foreign-secretary level," Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said, adding, "If you want real progress, it will have to come from the political leaders"
Pakistan will take up with India 'certain violations' of the provisions of a 1960 treaty in water projects, being constructed by the neighbouring country on Chenab and Jhelum rivers, during External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee's visit to Islamabad in May.Design changes in the water projects being built by India go beyond the provisions of the Treaty and Pakistan is making efforts for their rectification. The Indus Waters Treaty gave Pakistan the rights to the rivers.
Addressing a joint press conference in Washington along with Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that over the next few days the strategic talks will focus on Pakistan's energy and water needs.
Pakistan on Tuesday said it wants 'all bilateral issues,' including Kashmir, to be discussed at the foreign secretary-level talks on Thursday and feels much progress would not be made if India restricts the dialogue to a 'narrow agenda' of terrorism.
Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi will chair the inter-ministerial meeting at the Foreign Office in Islamabad on Wednesday to assess the Indian offer of talks, after which a clearer picture of Pakistan's response is expected to emerge.
India's latest offer of talks has been taken up by Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.
India's latest offer of talks has been taken up by Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.
Warning that terrorists wanted to sabotage the Indo-Pak peace process, Pakistan on Sunday said the two countries should not allow extremists to dictate terms to them.
In an interview with Outlook magazine, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, in an apparent volte-face, said Pakistan actually never handed any dossier to India during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's meeting with Yousuf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of the NAM summit at Sharm-el-Sheikh in July.
India on Thursday put on Pakistan the onus of unveiling the conspiracy behind the terror attack on Mumbai and ruled out meaningful dialogue till concrete action is taken against those responsible. The firm message was sent out by External Affairs Minister S M Krishna. "It is in our vital interest to normalise our relations with Pakistan. However, we are at a stage where it is for Pakistan to determine the kind of relationship that it wants to have with India," Krishna said.
Top Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud may have been killed in an American drone attack in South Waziristan in Pakistan's restive tribal belt. Quoting unnamed senior administration officials, the popular ABC News said United States and Pakistani officials now believe that Baitullah Mehsud, head of the Pakistani Taliban, was 'very likely' killed. "There is reason to believe that reports of his death may be true, but it can't be confirmed at this time," an American official said.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement summit in Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt on Thursday.Sources indicate that while Dr Singh will seek a firmer commitment on tackling terror from his Pakistani counterpart, Gilani might rake up the contentious issue of Kashmir during the talks. The composite dialogue between India and Pakistan had come to a standstill after the terror attack on Mumbai in November
Shah Mehmood Qureshi, foreign minister of Pakistan, spoke to Karan Thapar on issues ranging from the spread of Taliban to the investigations into the Mumbai terror attacks and the trust deficit between New Delhi and Islamabad.
Rejecting India's demand to extradite the perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attacks to the country, Pakistan has said such a move will be 'harmful' for it as there was no extradition treaty between the two neighbours. Qureshi said Pakistan had conducted its own 'independent investigations' into the charges of Pakistani elements involved in the Mumbai terror strikes and that it will do everything in the interests of India and Pakistan.
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