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Dialogue possible only if Pak respects India's sentiments: Salman Khurshid

The meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pakistan.

Web Desk November 12, 2013

Indian Minister for External Affairs Salman Khurshid addresses a press conference at the end of the two-day ASEM conference in Gurgaon on the outskirts of New Delhi on November 12, 2013. PHOTO: AFP

Indian External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said that if Islamabad was serious about bilateral dialogue with India, it was imperative that the Pakistani government respect "India's sentiments, point of view and sensitivities", according to NDTV.

Khurshid was addressing the media in New Delhi on the sidelines of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), after a meeting with Pakistan's Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz earlier on Tuesday.

Aziz is in India to attend the two-day Asia-Europe Meeting and the two leaders discussed ongoing tensions at the Line of Control (LoC), reported Radio Pakistan.

NDTV reported that the Indian minister raised the issue of Sartaj Aziz meeting Hurriyat leaders, including Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chief Yasin Malik, and leaders of both moderate and hardline Hurriyat factions - Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Syed Ali Shah Geelani.

He said the meetings with Hurriyat leaders are "not encouraging" moves and are "counterproductive".

"I think for a meaningful dialogue to take place conducive conditions have to be created, and it will have to be done by both sides, it cannot be only on one side."

'Cordial atmosphere' in the meeting

"The meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere," stated Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a press statement released after the meeting on Tuesday.

The statement added that both sides approached bilateral ties in a "constructive and forward looking manner"

After meeting with Khurshid, Aziz met with Indian National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon.

Aziz had sought a meeting with the prime minister during the visit, but was declined an audience.

Aziz also had wished to meet some leaders of the All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) in Delhi.

Sources in the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) told IANS in Srinagar that JKLF chief Muhammad Yasin Malik has received an invitation to meet Aziz in New Delhi.