By Mariana Baabar
ISLAMABAD: Indian Minister for External Affairs S M Krishna says that the recently concluded foreign secretary level talks between Islamabad and India did not disappoint him.
“Let me put it this way that nothing dramatic was expected in the meeting between the two foreign secretaries. We invited the foreign secretary of Pakistan to come to India so that we could start the talks, so that we could know what Pakistan’s position is. I was not disappointed because I did not expect much from that meeting. And it was only an icebreaker. It was a situation where we were trying to size up what Pakistan’s present thinking is. There I think we succeeded in assessing what Pakistan’s thinking is”, Krishna told Karan Thapar in CNN IBN’s Devil’s Advocate.
However, Krishna admitted that he was not aware of the evidence provided in the dossiers that India handed over to Pakistan. When asked specifically about the alleged role of serving Pakistani Army officers in the Mumbai attack the minister replied, “I do not know. I am not aware whether the dossier would have contained what the distinguished home minister has said.” He was also reluctant to explain the reaction of the US and the UK to the contents of the dossier blaming the Pakistan Army.
On the issue of Afghanistan, Krishna says that he did not agree with reports that India has been “squeezed out” of Afghanistan.“I do not think that India has been squeezed out. I think India is playing a stellar role in rebuilding Afghanistan which has been acknowledged by the people of Afghanistan and by the legitimate Government of Afghanistan, and that is what matters,” he added.
About attacks on Indians, Krishna noted that those who have gone there for humanitarian purposes are unarmed which makes them “easy and soft targets” but he said the Afghanistan government has assured that they will be able to protect the Indian personnel who have gone there on the call of duty.
He said, “Apart from what the Afghanistan government is doing, we in India will have to take some additional measures ourselves.”The minister also rejected reports that the US Administration was trying to minimise India’s presence in Afghanistan.
“We in our interactions with the US Administration at various levels have not got the impression that the United States is trying to convey directly or indirectly to the Indian Government that our presence in Afghanistan should be minimised. That is not my impression,” he said.
Online adds: S M Krishna also said India has taken note of Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai’s statement that it was a friend and Pakistan a conjoined twin. “We take note of that,” was his reply when asked if it worried India.
APP adds: When asked whether India had informed its close allies in the West — Britain and America — that it had “evidence” of alleged “Pakistani state involvement” (in attacks on Indian nationals) and what their response, he said India had conveyed to them in its own way. “I think it is something between ourselves. I do not think it could be aired in public domain,” he said.
Source: http://thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=27906
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