New Delhi: India today blamed Pakistan for “derailing” the dialogue process but said there is “no full stop” in diplomatic relations, indicating that there may be a window for resumption of talks and did not rule out a meeting between the two Prime Ministers on the sidelines of UN General Assembly this month in New York.
Questioning the rationale behind Pakistan holding talks with Kashmiri separatists, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said it was not “too much” to expect from Pakistan that it should not interefere in the internal matters of India.
However, when asked about the future strategy in dealing with Pakistan, she said “there is no full stop in diplomacy; it's always commas and semi colon. And after all this, people always move forward. There are no full stops in diplomatic journey.”
Asked if Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet his Pakistan counterpart Nawaz Sharif on the sideline of the UN General Assembly in New York later this month, the minister said it will depend on how the situation will emerge in coming days and they were not going there with any “preset mind”.
Noting that consequent to the meeting between Modi and Sharif who had come here for the swearing-in of the Prime Minister, it was decided that the two Foreign Secretaries will meet in Islamabad on August 25.
“I do not know what was the need for their High Commissioner to invite the Kashmiri separatists and talk to them. He himself invited them. Why they derailed the talks (with India)? What did they achieve?....Who derailed the initiative? (It is) Pakistan,” the Minister said.
Swaraj also expressed India's disappointment in delay of the trial of Mumbai terror attack case in Pakistan while drawing a distinction between 2008 attacks in the country's commercial capital and bomb blasts in Samjhauta Express in 2007.
On Sharif's response to India's assistance for victims of floods, Swaraj said people should appreciate the sentiment of the statement and not get into the technicalities of the language.
The External Affairs Minister, who was presenting a ‘report card' of 100 days in office, also talked about wide-range of foreign policy-related developments including inviting SAARC leaders to the swearing-in of Modi government, priority to neighbourhood by visiting Bhutan and Nepal, upcoming visit of the Chinese President and Modi's high-profile visit to the US later this month.
Modi will hold bilateral talks with US President Barack Obama on September 30 apart from addressing the UN General Assembly in New York, Swaraj said.
