They met because they were asked to meet. They discussed because they were asked to discuss. They listened to each other because they were given mandate to built trust. When S.M.Krishna went to meet Quershi , this “pakistan calling” episode was not for break throughs. It was for listening to where both countries stand and look for openings.
As both of them addressed press , differences in various issues was for every ones to see. From pillai to kashmir to Baluchistan , pakistan had many things to talk about while India had terrorism , trial of 26/11 , inflitration to discuss about.
As press asked question qureshi and krishna answered. They answered as if both of them were not in same press conference.
Nothing seemed common between two . While diplomats cried foul , at least the most positive aspect of press conference was honesty. Both foreign ministers honestly and frankly spoke about where they stand and what is their view point.
The most surprising statement as Indian for me was quershi’s comparision of Mr Pillai (Home secretary of India) with infamous
Hafiz Saeed , supremo of banned lashkar ae toyba and Jammat ud dawa. Now how can a rowdy element’s inflammatory speech compared with home secretary of any country?. Home secretary won’t utter a word without knowing what he is saying while people like saeed can create stories to get backing of illiterates to cause terror attacks in India.Hafiz saeed doesnot know that there are third largest number of muslims of the world in India. He prefers to call India as hindus and it looks like he knows hindus more than hindus know themself.Hafiz has never stayed with hindus and has been mostly with muslims still he can write ‘why hindus are what they are’ encyclopedia. It is different matter that when JUD was banned , it’s website used hindu’s photo and write up about how JUD helped pakistani hindu families during earthquake. Using minority to avoid getting banned is famous trait of right wing groups all across the globe ,including India.
Coming back to qureshi , Never the less qureshi did think that a home secretary of India has equal weightage as hafiz saeed of pakistan!!!!!!!!. Now Indian press would take saeed’s statement more as official word!!!!!!!.
The hafiz saeed-Pillai saga did serve purpose of Indian press which was looking for some masala as well as opposition which cried foul and accused krishna of not standing by to home secretary.
If you replay the press conference you would come to know that krishna was half asleep when qureshi said famous words ‘both of us agreed that statement was uncalled for’. Before krishna could understand what he agreed with , press had another question and humhaar krishna did miss the bus.
Visit ended with no break throughs (nobody expected any though) but with ‘phir kab miloge , jab tum kahoge’ theme. Qureshi is expected to have ‘India calling’ theme , somewhere in November.
India and Pakistan are two countries whose relation can never make sense if third country/persons views it. Two nations separated since Independence. Two nations which often have two different versions for same event in history. Two nations which share genes , culture , most of food and to many extent destinies. India is land of more than 110 crore people while Pakistan has 18 crores. India is second most fasted economy in the world while pakistan is considered to be next big thing (if it gets is right) by world bank. India has highest number of poors (from 25% to 77% considering which report one sees) , while pakistan economy suffers because of bush’s stone age threat and taliban’s new found wisdom of making pakistan as per what they believe is Islam.
Both countries have exponential possibilities if both can get to work together and assist in creating peaceful environment.
Ordinary people of both countries though tagged as muslims , Indian muslims , Hindu , sikhs and many others , behind these tags and layers lies a emotional human being who wants to give best to his/her family , have good life and see his/her nation prosper. That is common ground where foreigner ministers can work upon.
No matter how much Indians and Pakistanis bash each other, fact remains that we need to be more realistic in our approach. We have had 3 wars , one mini war , has it solved issues?. India is facing terrorism since 20 years , did India give up kashmir?. India has been pressurizing pakistan for terrorism since last so many years , did that stop terrorism?. Pakistan has been trying to get kashmir issue solved since last 63 years , did it get solved?. So it is better to talk , talk and talk till we can achieve break throughs.
Should India keep talking while pakistan keeps shooting?. This question was asked to me by one of blog’s reader. Well valid point. Why do we keep talking when pakistan allows saeeds and salauddins to keep attacking India?. Ofcourse we need our concerns addressed. When pakistan says it is victim of terror , it is partially right. The full statement should be that pakistan is victim of terror mechanism which was created by ISI and CIA during soviet’s invasion of afghanistan. Where as India is victim of terror which was nurtured by previous regimes of pakistan and pakistan needs to deal with it. But at same time we need to engage with pakistan to get our concerns addressed.
To be fair with pakistan , they too have concerns and their own agendas. They have every right to have one. Without discussion we cannot have conducive environment to make sure things turn out positively for Indians and Pakistanis who would be born after 50 years.
P.S. : After this post was written Mr qureshi blamed India on selective approach and also questioned krishna’s mandate. 26/11 is very important issue for India and emotional issue for Indians. Life is not same after 26/11 and these concerns need to be addressed before others issues can be handled.
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