NEW DELHI - India on Monday again blamed Pakistan for ‘derailing’ the dialogue process between the two countries, but was careful to say there is ‘no fullstop’ in diplomatic relations.
According to Economic Times, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said people always move forward after short pauses, indicating that there may be a window for resumption of talks in the near future. “There is no full stop in diplomacy; it’s always comas and semi colon. And after all this, people always move forward. There are no full stops in a diplomatic journey.”
Questioning the reason behind Pakistan holding talks with Kashmiri leaders, Swaraj said it was not “too much” to ask Pakistan to not interfere in the internal matters of India.
“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.
Responding to a question whether Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will meet his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on the sideline of the UN General Assembly in New York later this month, which both are supposed to attend, Swaraj said it will depend on the situation in the coming days. However, she deflated expectations for a possible meeting by noting that the two premiers were not attending the assembly with a “preset mind” to meet.
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.