The foreign ministers of India and Pakistan on Thursday may have sought to project before a global audience and their respective media that their much awaited talks were positive, constructive and meaningful it was anything but that. Going by the body language of both S M Krishna and Shah Mahmood Qureshi, and the pointed, at times, aggressive questions asked by the media, it was plain and simple -- disastrous and awful.
Here is why? For starters, the press conference was to begin at about 1230 hrs Pakistan time, but commenced nearly eight hours later, leaving media persons on either side tired, anxious, exasperated and indulging in rumor and banter about possible pluses and minuses of the talks. When it actually started at around 2030 hrs Pakistan time, it seemed initially to be going according to script, but as it progressed, it went beyond the prescribed format and descended into a virtual free-for-all.
The last question of the press conference, which continued further, said it all. An Indian journalist asked Pakistan Foreign Minister Qureshi "We are talking about taking the dialogue process (between India and Pakistan) ahead. In this scenario, Hafiz Saeed's anti-India tirade is affecting the environment was this issue discussed? In what appeared to be a measured response, Qureshi said: "We discussed it. Incidentally, the minister (referring to India's S M Krishna) raised the question that he was
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