News
Sunday, May 09, 2010
Indo-Pak foreign ministers likely to talk on Tuesday
* Both officials set to decide date, venue of their meeting
By Iftikhar Gilani
NEW DELHI: In order to set the ball rolling for a dialogue after 19 months of lull, the Pakistani and Indian foreign ministers are expected to hold their first round of talks over the phone on Tuesday.
External Affairs Minister SM Krishna wanted to talk to Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Friday, but the latter’s appointment schedule did not allow it, official sources said.
Date and place: Krishna had earlier announced in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday that he would talk to Qureshi to decide the dates and venue of the ministerial meeting. He is to make the phone call in the context of Qureshi wanting a meeting with him before May-end and offering to come to Delhi if Krishna could not make it to Islamabad.
Both may also decide dates for a meeting of their foreign secretaries as part of the bilateral interactions agreed upon by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh in Thimphu last week to address the trust deficit between the two countries.
Although Qureshi has offered to visit New Delhi, Indian analysts believe Krishna’s visit to Islamabad would auger well for the dialogue process. “It will dispel the impression that Indian leaders shy away from visiting Islamabad,” they said, pointing out that it was Krishna’s turn to return Qureshi’s visit from two years ago, which ended badly due to the Mumbai terror attacks.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk