Pakistan has said it is ready to take action against Jamaat-ud Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed but added that India should give 'concrete evidence' that stands 'legal scrutiny' and holds him responsible for the Mumbai terror attacks. Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi insisted that his country was committed to bringing the perpetrators of 26/11 to justice but could not give any specific time-frame for conclusion of the trial in the case as the judiciary acted independently
Notwithstanding the lack of progress in July 15 talks, Pakistan has said it is ready to walk the "extra mile" as it wants to "move forward" in building relations with India but insisted that the two countries need to be "mutually accommodative". Pressing for a "comprehensive and sustained" engagement, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi maintained that Kashmir issue would have to be the part of any discussions and "selective" approach would not be helpful.
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.
Pakistan on Wednesday accused India of not responding positively to its efforts to restart the dialogue process and contended that it would go the "extra mile" if New Delhi takes steps in this regard.
Noting that Pakistan had done nothing on the 26/11 case, former National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra on Tuesday said the government had made a "serious mistake" by holding talks and these were "bound to fail".
Upping the ante, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said he is unwilling to travel to New Delhi for talks unless India is prepared to hold a "meaningful, constructive and result-oriented" dialogue to resolve outstanding issues.
After making carping comments on his talks with S M Krishna, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said he never stated that his Indian counterpart was on the phone with New Delhi during their parleys on Thursday.
Pakistan appears to have piped down on Saturday after two days of acrimony with India with its leaders saying it wanted continuation of the bilateral dialogue and is serious about normalisation of Indo-Pak ties.
'There are difficulties and we need to find a way to handle them,' Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said, adding 'we are ready to engage, we are ready to negotiate any time, anywhere and we are not in a hurry. We will wait till they are ready.'
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday regretted that Home Secretary G K Pillai was not 'defended' by External Affairs Minister S M Krishna when he was 'openly castigated' by Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi for his remarks that the Inter Services Intelligence had coordinated the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi will begin a four-day official visit to India on Friday to carry forward the peace process between the two countries and address outstanding issues like Kashmir.
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.
The Pakistan government has trashed former president Pervez Musharraf's four-point formula to resolve Kashmir issue, saying it was "his thinking" which did not have the endorsement of Pakistan Parliament or Cabinet and suggested a fresh approach to address the vexed problem.
As he prepares to meet External Affairs Minister S M Krishna in July, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has said 'nothing dramatic' should be expected from 'one sitting' and emphasised that the dialogue process should be made 'irreversible'.Qureshi, who along with Krishna has been tasked to bridge the trust deficit, said mutual suspicions were the main reason for the trust gap and the two countries should work towards removing those.
Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao will hold talks with her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir in Islamabad on June 24 to finalise the agenda for an upcoming meeting of the foreign ministers of the two countries.
Pakistan has always desired a purposeful dialogue with India to resolve outstanding problems, including the core issue of Kashmir, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Tuesday.Qureshi said, Referring to Pakistan's policy on Kashmir, he said, "We want a just and peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue in light of the United Nation's resolutions and according to the aspirations of the Kashmiri people," he said.
Pakistan agreed to a change in the format for future talks with India in return for New Delhi's consent to resume broad-based engagement with it, diplomatic sources said on Friday.
In an apparent bid to drive a wedge between Indian government and the ruling party, Pakistan has said that "well-meaning" Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was keen to normalise ties with it but "elements in Congress" did not support him.
As Washington tries to find its way out of Afghanistan, Pakistan has emerged as the central player dictating the terms of this emerging endgame in South Asia, notes Harsh Pant.
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.
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.
"The government reserves the right to file an appeal against the High Court's decision," Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told media-persons on the sidelines of an international security conference in Munich on Sunday.
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.'
As the international apprehensions grew over the release of rouge atomic scientist A Q Khan, Pakistan on Saturday defended setting him free, saying his clandestine nuclear proliferation network had been "dismantled." "A Q Khan is history," Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said, claiming that the Pakistan authorities had broken his nuclear smuggling network and extracted all the information from him.
Pakistan High Commissioner Shahid Malik has met Home Minister P Chidambaram and is understood to have discussed aspects related to the Mumbai terror attacks.
Pakistan on Monday briefed foreign envoys on its response to the Mumbai terror attacks and its own probe into the information provided by India, as part of an effort to counter the diplomatic initiative launched by New Delhi. Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and interior ministry chief Rehman Malik briefed the ambassadors and high commissioners of most foreign countries at the foreign office in Islamabad.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi is expected to visit India next year if there is agreement on the "agenda" and "outcome" of his parleys with his Indian counterpart, the Pakistani Foreign Office said on Thursday.
President Asif Ali Zardari today conferred one of Pakistan's highest civilian honours on US Vice President-elect Joseph Biden in recognition of his "consistent support for democracy and socio-economic development" in the country.
Pakistan today asked India to "review its stance" and cooperate with it to meet the common threat of terrorism as it cautioned that "any coercion or threat of use of force" would be counter-productive.
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.
Pakistan today asked India to share information and evidence on the Mumbai terrorist attacks, saying its probe into the incident could not proceed unless there is "sustained and pragmatic cooperation" between the two countries.
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.
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.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Pakistan will again raise their demand for a deal -- similar to one the US has with India -- during US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi's meeting in Washington on October 22.
India had sought Pakistan's permission to use the country's airspace on October 28 for Prime Minister Modi, who will be visiting Saudi Arabia to participate in an international business conference on October 29.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has agreed to come here and India is looking forward to the visit during which the two sides will try to reduce differences, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna said in New Delhi on Tuesday. The minister said India has been trying to build cordial relations with Pakistan and hoped for "reciprocity" of these efforts.
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.
Amid talk over why the Indo-Pak bilateral meeting did not work out on sidelines on the UNGA, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi appeared to suggest that India had changed its mind on the meeting though he was willing to meet "anywhere, anytime".
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."
The Pakistan police on Tuesday said it is clueless of the whereabouts of kidnapped Afghan diplomat Abdul Khaliq Farahi.