Qureshi indicates India changed mind on meeting in New York

NEW YORK: Amid talk over why the Indo-Pak bilateral did not work out on sidelines on the UNGA, Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi appeared to suggest that India had changed its mind on the meeting though he was willing to meet "anywhere, anythime".

"I have said that I was willing to meet them anywhere, anytime," he told journalists last evening before leaving for Washington, but did not explicitly blame New Delhi.

"I have told them that I am willing to come wherever they want me to come," he said, asking the questioning journalists to find out the reason.

Qureshi further said that he had even invited External Affairs Minister S M Krishna to tea at the Roosevelt hotel where he was staying.

"If you have problems coming to Roosevelt, I will come to you," he said, noting that India had first expressed interest in talking to Pakistan.

"So why isn't this happening... it is for you (reporters) to find out... there was no lack of interest on our part," he said.

A bilateral meeting between the two ministers was widely anticipated on the sidelines of the opening session of the General Assembly, which the two ministers have been attending since last week.

While no specific date had been confirmed, diplomats from both sides had indicated that such a meeting was being negotiated.

However, Krishna yesterday gave a clear indication that such talks would not be possible during this trip.

"Well it is not on the cards," he told the media, after delivering a speech at the Asia Society.

During the speech, Krishna blasted Qureshi for raising the issue of Kashmir at various public forums during the course of his stay, including the annual debate at the General Assembly.

He also suggested that by raising the pitch on Kashmir, Pakistan was trying to deflect attention away from the problems in its own backyard, and said the remarks were "unsolicited and untenable".

"It is with a sense of genuine disappointment that I react to the unacceptable references to the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir made by Foreign Minister Qureshi in his address at the UN," Krishna said.

Speaking at the UN, Qureshi had raised the issue of the "right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people" and a "plebiscite under the UN auspices".