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.”
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