Indian and Pakistani newspapers were rife with mutual recrimination yesterday about the latest talks between the nuclear-armed rivals, but recognized that leaders at least agreed to meet again.
Pakistan had been hoping for confidence-building measures in a step towards resuming peace talks, but local analysts accused India of hijacking the talks by accusing Pakistan intelligence of orchestrating the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna invited his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehmood Qureshi to India for further talks, but urged Islamabad to investigate leads thrown up by the questioning of a US terror suspect on Mumbai.
On the eve of the talks in Islamabad on Thursday, Indian Home Secretary G.K. Pillai accused Pakistan’s ISI of controlling and coordinating the Mumbai attacks that left 166 people dead two years ago.
Qureshi described the remarks as “uncalled for.”
Deadlock
“The trust-building dialogue ended in a deadlock as the two sides failed to come up with a clear roadmap for sustainable engagement or a consensus on confidence-building measures,” said Pakistan’s most prestigious newspaper, Dawn.
The paper described discussions as very intense and blamed the deadlock on India refusing to discuss issues of concern to Pakistan.
“Indians were more interested in discussing the trial of Mumbai attacks suspects in Pakistan, following the leads that emerged from David Headley and other issues terrorism related issues,” the paper said.
The News said Indian intransigence “left rather a bad taste in diplomatic mouths” and blamed India for failing to outline a specific roadmap for future talks on the major disputes that divide the countries.
In India, the press was also largely negative about the meeting.
“Fissures run deep but India, Pakistan agree to meet again,” the headline in the Indian Express read.
“It was obvious that the two sides had failed to agree on anything, even the confidence-building measures,” the Hindustan Times newspaper wrote.
English-language tabloid Mail Today acknowledged Krishna’s invitation to Qureshi, but its page-three report was headlined: “Serious differences mar Indo-Pak talks.”
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
‘BODIES EVERYWHERE’: The incident occurred at a Filipino festival celebrating an anti-colonial leader, with the driver described as a ‘lone suspect’ known to police Canadian police arrested a man on Saturday after a car plowed into a street party in the western Canadian city of Vancouver, killing a number of people. Authorities said the incident happened shortly after 8pm in Vancouver’s Sunset on Fraser neighborhood as members of the Filipino community gathered to celebrate Lapu Lapu Day. The festival, which commemorates a Filipino anti-colonial leader from the 16th century, falls this year on the weekend before Canada’s election. A 30-year-old local man was arrested at the scene, Vancouver police wrote on X. The driver was a “lone suspect” known to police, a police spokesperson told journalists at the
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has unveiled a new naval destroyer, claiming it as a significant advancement toward his goal of expanding the operational range and preemptive strike capabilities of his nuclear-armed military, state media said yesterday. North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim attended the launching ceremony for the 5,000-tonne warship on Friday at the western port of Nampo. Kim framed the arms buildup as a response to perceived threats from the US and its allies in Asia, who have been expanding joint military exercises amid rising tensions over the North’s nuclear program. He added that the acquisition
RSS