Qureshi going for NY talks, sans hope

NEW DELHI: Accepting that New Delhi is unlikely to make any concessions in the New York meetings of the foreign secretaries and ministers, Pakistani foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Wednesday said he was not expecting any breakthrough on improving ties with India.

External affairs minister S M Krishna and his Pakistani counterpart are likely to meet in New York on the sidelines of the UNGA on September 26. Ahead of the meeting, the foreign secretaries of the two countries are also scheduled to meet in New York.

India has continued to say that there can be forward movement in bilateral ties only if Islamabad acts on terror. With no tangible results coming out of the joint investigations, New Delhi has ruled out a resumption of the dialogue process. Due to public perception, New Delhi has been reluctant to schedule the meeting of the foreign secretaries in Islamabad. But a decision was taken to engage Pakistan on the issue of terrorism in the US.

The New York talks will focus solely on the issue of terrorism and on the action taken by Pakistan against the perpetrators of Mumbai terror attacks and the terror infrastructure. The foreign secretaries will review the developments that have taken place since Sharm-el-Sheikh ahead of the foreign ministers��� meeting. For India, the talks are an opportunity to put pressure on Islamabad to act on terror.

���Frankly speaking, I am not expecting any major breakthrough,��� Mr Qureshi was quoted as saying.
India has asked Pakistan to take action against the Mumbai terror suspects, particularly against Lashkar founder Hafiz Saeed, who met with the Mumbai attackers before they left Pakistan. However, Islamabad has so far refused to take action against Saeed.

But Islamabad���s rhetoric and lack of action in the last couple of weeks has not been encouraging. Pakistan has continued to dismiss the dossiers handed over by India, saying the evidence and information contained in them, especially against Saeed, would not stand up in a court of law.

Home minister P Chidambaram had rubbished this argument and said India was thoroughly dissatisfied with Pakistan, as perpetrators of the terror attacks were still at large.