Quraishi: Delhi hamstrung by politics
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmoud Quraishi has said that India’s “domestic political and electoral compulsions” were behind New Delhi’s reluctance to talk to the new government in Islamabad.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Quraishi were slated to meet on the sidelines of the ongoing UN General Assembly session in New York. However, India called off the meeting last week, citing the brutal killings of three policemen in Jammu and Kashmir and Islamabad releasing postage stamps of slain Kashmiri militant Burhan Wani.
“Why are they reluctant? Simply politics, elections, they are scared of the electorate. They have swung the pendulum to such an extreme [that], now they’re finding it difficult to bring it back. And [with] the elections round the corner, they [the Indian government] felt that it could boomerang,” Quraishi said Friday in response to a question at an event organised by the Asia Society.
India has maintained that there can be no talks with Pakistan unless it stops supporting militants. On Thursday also, Swaraj, left a meeting of the SAARC foreign ministers early, which was attended by Quraishi.
Responding to a query about the incident, Quraishi said, “I wish we were going to smile at each other. But [I] could see the immense strain [on Swaraj’s face]. And when she left, she wasn’t even willing to engage with the media. I could see the pressure, I could see the political [pressure] on her... So, politics, nothing else, politics, domestic politics [made India reluctant to talk to Pakistan],” he said.
It was sad to see how “a regional forum (SAARC) had become hostage” to the needs of one nation, he added.
The Pakistani foreign minister, who is scheduled to meet US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday, said, “Today, India is a strategic partner of the US. We have no qualms about it. But we feel that Pakistan is an ally who has always stood with the US.”
He said the Trump administration will miss an opportunity if it does not engage with the new government of Pakistan.