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.
COMMENTS (37)
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Mr. Khurshid if you want to be taken seriously, plz return the money you snapped off the "disable people" in what turned out to be a quite shameful scam.....and then better act like THE FOREIGN MINISTER OF INDIA insted of being MODI BASHING MINISTER OF UPA!!
@Rakib I think the better comparison is PTI internet brigade, lots(and i really really mean LOT) of similarities between BJP internet brigade and the former. For eg: 1)Both claim, they are not paid bots, but sincere Indian/Pakistanis who have finally got their voices heard thanks to WWW.(whilst at the same time claiming nothing bad that happened in last 66 years after independence was fault of their respective political overlords/role models/idols. 2)Their Presence on net is overwhelming, but the reality is not.(yes they have support in IRL as well, but nowhere as close to overwhelming, as on net. 3)Both are hardcore xenophobic, anyone who is not a member of PTI/BJP is automatically(without the burden of proof being invoked or respected) corrupt, worthy of contempt, etc etc... I could write a whole lot of other similarities as well, such as no corruption image of both their leaders, but rather than doing this, I'll predict something else, just like PTI's Imran, the campaign of these internet Hindus will be equally as successful (NOT.) PS: Note that I'm not really comparing Imran with Narendra, but their respective Internet brigades. I hope you all will read it as an observation, that might make you understand this phenomenon, and might also make Pakistanis see that its not just internet Hindus doing it. they are doing it HERE, that point I do get however :)
@ethicalman: ("I wonder how Pakistanis will feel if an Indian diplomat come to Pakistan and meet Baloch freedom fighters, the vulnerable Hindu and Sikh minorties.....That trend will change once Modi comes to power..")
India & Pak have no territorial dispute reg Balochistan or LoC issues there, besides it is possible only if Indian emissaries cultivate a persuasive personality with quiet assertiveness like Sartaj Aziz. He came for a multilateral gathering but kept the meeting with Kashmiri leaders at top of his agenda, giving it precedence over meeting Delhi's top leaders; & got away with it. Your abiding faith in Modi is touching, it moved me to tears.
@Majid: oh ho ho, like you did in 1965, 1999? Oh, I know what you mean, you mean like you did that in 1971. muhooohaaa (Evil Laugh).
@Rakib: "A blue-white tear drop printed silk tie suits a person like Sartaj Aziz who may be a quiet man who can wield authority without shouting."
Do google Hard Talk Sartaj Aziz July 1999. This was a post Kargill interview given by Sartaj Aziz right after Kargill where he gave an extremely poor account of himself. Not all people who speak softly are authorative and not all people who speak in an impassioned manner are radical either. Such sweeping generalisations do not suit you.
Puppet of Hindus, no one cares what you say. We don't need any excuse to visit our blood brothers. Pakistanis and Kashmiris are one and the same, no one can divide us.
@ Majid Good One! I almost chocked while sipping coffee :)
don't ask Kashmir from us it is better you people go to some arab country and live there.
Awwww... did we hurt India's feelings?
@Sardar KHAN: The strength of Indian army is 11 lakh....
So according to you,we have 7 lakh in one state and leave just 4 lakh to guard the rest of 14,603km of Land border ....Honestly which idiot of a general would think of such a foolish plan....
Or which crappy website or mullah's lecture did you get this number????
@Mohinder sandhu There are two reasons for such hateful comments 1) Excessive polarization politics ... esp by Congress/BJP/RSS/VHP/Bajrangdal/Senas 2) Attention seekers who post such things for fun/entertainment/time pass
@Jatin: But, Afganistan belong to Buddhists and Iran belong to Zoroastrians....
Indus (sindhu) river and all area of its east upto assam belongs to Hindus. Get out of there. Go back to your Afghanistan and Iran.
Have they had enough from their talks over the past ovedr sixty years? There can be no reconciliation or progress in an field until the Kashmiri muslims gain their independence and the Indian occupation army departs. Pakistan Government has a stake but not all the way, it is the Kashmirirs who is the major party on both sides of the border.
Rex Minor
@Rohit: It is shameful of talking about sending (M) Muslims to pakistan,Muslim brother and sisters are very much part of our country India, their contribution to make india proud are countless.In this 21st century a talk like yours is sheer ignorance.SHAME SHAME
@Sardar KHAN: World very well know who are the terrorist army which gives safe heaven for OBL under there nose.In future we will also take pakistan occupied kashmir and becomes indian terittory, so be careful.
@Raj: Then why you need to keep 7 lakh of your terrorist army occupying it? Come out of your dream world,it is not part of baharat and belongs to Kashmiris.The sooner you accept the reality the sooner it will be good for the peace of the region.But the trouble is fools always day dream,instead of looking at the realities.
Look at Mir Sir-Taj Aziz all visible hair gone white. Still wants to serve the nation at the age of 85 when educated youth is JOBLESS.
Kashmir is internal part of India.
We are ready to send you all Kashmiri but will get Kashmir. We also try to take Pak- -Occupied-Kashmir when BJP comes in power.
I fail to understand why Sartaj Aziz wanted to meet Yasin Malik in India. Yasin Malik spends more time in Pakistan with his Pakistani wife than in India.
@ModiFied: (Is it mere coincidence or some new international norm?)
As Modi's haberdasher, Jade Blue Boutique of Ahmedabad, will tell you:-There was a time when loud red tie was in fashion; now it's an abomination. Blue however is a calming and soothing colour which disarms the interlocutor during negotiations. A blue-white tear drop printed silk tie suits a person like Sartaj Aziz who may be a quiet man who can wield authority without shouting. A blue panama plain or subtle stripe would suit one with an academic look & preoccupied but polite airs like that of Salman Khurshid. And any tie would suit Narendra Modi when he ties himself up in to knots with his howlers!
Whatever salman is talking will not come into effect, as next government will be led by BJP.
@ModiFied: good observation
@ Rohit totay agree with you bro...tbh i am not sure why there are so many muslims on the other side they should all be over in Pak - can you please start a campaign to send them all here please? Thx
@Anjaan - as someone from the other side i am in full agreement with you and the rest of my esteemed friends from your side....i think this whole concept of pak-india talks and peace is the biggest folly of our times and the sooner we stop having indians (or paks) pretending to talk about peace the sooner we can al be happy - no matter how one cuts it there is never going to be peace between the two sides and we should accept as adults to just let everyone be...jai Pak
Ready to give Kashmir, along with freebies : All the Muss boys from India. Complete population transfer is the only solution.
Looks as if both acquired their dress, including the tie from the same source. Mian Sahab and Obama too had the similar tie. Is it mere coincidence or some new international norm?
@ Majid.
But your leaders said the same thing just before the 1971 war..Look what you ended up with? A Bangladesh.. on the east and a physically reduced Pakistan on the west..(of India)!
@Majid Kashmir is the least of our problems. We are staring at disintegration, if we don't have Pakistan what use for Kashmir. We couldn't take between 1947 and 2013. Our graph is going down and down.
@Anjaan:
Right now with the Congress led UPA government preparing for the electoral fight of a lifetime, It is expected that External Affairs minister Salman Khurshid will be standoffish.
Once the elections are over and if there is another Congress led government it will be able to pick up the pieces and renew talks to agree to red lines. But watch as it unfolds talks will go on and areas like trade will move forward no matter what the governments of India and Pakistan .act in public posturing.
@Anjaan: We will take it and India will give it by its own hands and you will see it. Cheers!
That M Boy Khurshid need not return to India. Stay there with your M brethren.