Pakistan-India dialogue: Foreign ministers’ meeting postponed

Dates clash with Indian presidential election.

NEW DEHLI: A planned meeting between the Pakistani and Indian foreign ministers next month has been postponed, New Delhi said on Tuesday, citing a clash of dates with India’s presidential election.

The postponement comes at a time of political upheaval in Pakistan, but Indian foreign ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin stressed that the rescheduling was not a sign of any new tensions between the neighbours.

Indian Foreign Minister SM Krishna had been scheduled to travel to Islamabad on July 18 to hold talks with his Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar.

Akbaruddin said India’s presidential election on July 19 had forced the change of dates.

“Obviously we need to reschedule,” Akbaruddin said, pointing out that Krishna was a member of the presidential electoral college which comprises lawmakers from both houses of parliament and state legislatures.

“But please don’t think that a scheduling issue is reflective of substantive problems. There are none,” he told reporters.

With the monsoon session of India’s parliament due to open on July 22, Akbaruddin said the postponed Krishna-Khar talks would most likely be held ‘in August at the earliest’.

He also acknowledged that political events in Pakistan, where the judiciary ousted the prime minister a week ago, would have to be taken into consideration.

“Since the original date was fixed, there have been changes we are all aware of in Pakistan and these of course will be factored in,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 27^th, 2012.