PTI leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD:
Former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has criticized Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s trip to New Delhi as one in which a ‘win-win’ situation turned into an unmitigated disaster.
Speaking with The Express Tribune on Wednesday, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader said that while the party supported the PM’s gesture and any efforts to make peace with India, the prime minister should have taken Parliament into confidence regarding his visit and evolved a consensual policy towards India. “It is important that peace is premised on mutual interests and benefits to ensure that it is long lasting,” Qureshi said.
It is incomprehensible, Qureshi said, as to why the prime minister did not mention issues between India and Pakistan such as ‘Indian-aided terrorism in Pakistan’, when his Indian counterpart had put forward clear demands to Pakistan regarding the same issue. “The prime minister failed to use the opportunity for a one-on-one meeting with his Indian counterpart to raise serious concerns Pakistan has over the water issue, terrorism and the stalled composite dialogue and the Kashmir conflict,” Qureshi said.
It was disturbing that for the first time a Pakistani prime minister visiting New Delhi officially failed to meet with Kashmir’s Hurriyet leadership, he added. Thus, the PTI leader said, the Pakistani nation was given a message of fear of Indian anger and appeasement.
Qureshi said the only concrete item mentioned by Sharif was special investments for Indians in Pakistan and his admission that he wished to be viewed as a friend of the business community.
“This uni-dimensional focus of Sharif’s India policy - which is in fact not a policy but a collection of short-term measures - on business interests betrays a lack of understanding on the overarching dynamics of the Pakistan-India relationship and the real conflicts that need resolution,” Qureshi said.
“It also begs the question of whether the PML-N government has put the composite dialogue on the back burner to further certain business interests with India.”
Meanwhile, PTI chief Imran Khan said, “We want peace on our borders, but we will see how Prime Minister Sharif represented us in his meeting with the new Indian prime minister.”
Published in The Express Tribune, May 29th, 2014.
COMMENTS (13)
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@MA khan:
"It is abundantly clear from history stretching back 30+ years that India supports separatist elements in Balochistan. Support to Taliban is an non-issue relatively . Balochistan is where Indian meddling is more pronounced. So your comments seem trivial or uninformed "
Assuming that is true, why shouldn't India support the Baloch freedom movement as a counter reply to Pakistan's proxy terror war against India in Kashmir and the rest of India that has killed over 60,000 Indians in the past 25 years? And then, there is the case of Pakistan's support for Khalistani terrorists who butchered 30,000 Indians from the 1980's.
While I don't advocate or support any internal interference in Pakistan, wouldn't the Indians be quite justified in "returning" the same that the Pakistan has been doing in India?
Stop cribbing mr. Qureshi....
"It is incomprehensible, Qureshi said, as to why the prime minister did not mention issues between India and Pakistan such as ‘Indian-aided terrorism in Pakistan’, when his Indian counterpart had put forward clear demands to Pakistan regarding the same issue"
Why didn't Nawaz didn't bring it up? Very simple. Because it is just a Pakistani propaganda and there is no truth to it.
@water bottle:
India and other players support terrorists IN PAKISTAN but not all of TTP. Their task is to create confusion within the ranks of the organization itself and amongst public. A bomb here and there, a wrong statement here and there, tampering with the 'peace talks' etc.
Here is modi boss who wants all muslim to become hindu(including kashmire): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0kFonRb1z8
@water bottle: very impressive ;)
For all non residential Pakistanis...
Try reading Wikipedia on indo-pak relationship wars and just about everything once u get out of your country
Indians never make up their mind by homegrown stories...we rely on neutral sources...only to find our home stories are correct
‘Indian-aided terrorism in Pakistan"
Does this thing even exists?!!
Hahahaha.
@water bottle It is abundantly clear from history stretching back 30+ years that India supports separatist elements in Balochistan. Support to Taliban is an non-issue relatively . Balochistan is where Indian meddling is more pronounced. So your comments seem trivial or uninformed
@water bottle: Nice one, awesome....lol
"‘Indian-aided terrorism in Pakistan’"
If you are referring to TTP, I have some questions to ask.
1) Since Imran Khan and JUF support peace talks with TTP, should we assume that these two are on India's payroll?
2) Since USA is sending drones to kill TTP, should we assume that USA is at loggerheads with India?
3) Since TTP openly promised to fight alongside Pak army, if India attacks Pakistan, should we assume that both the Pak army and India are paying TTP?
4) Since Pak army openly refused to engage TTP in North WAziristan until a few days ago, should we assume that Pak army generals are under India's payroll?
All the whole world is mocking at our nation. When a head of a state visits another nation the head of the host government is informed by their ministries about the visitor's nation and the the visiting person. We ourselves know about reputation of our nation. More important is the image and reputation of our Prime Minister who is notorious for looting our nation and staking money abroad. A person who does not love his own country and his people will carry a horrible massage with him. There for the result or the visit came out as was expected..
"It was disturbing that for the first time a Pakistani prime minister visiting New Delhi officially failed to meet with Kashmir’s Hurriyet leadership"
Gone are the days of these meetings. Modi will never allow these meetings. Let Mr Shah Mehmood Qureshi try his luck meeting the hurriyat leaders next time if visits India in any capacity.