Zardari opts out of another meeting with Manmohan

[Screaming Skull]

Zardari opts out of another meeting with Manmohan​

18 Jun 2009,

President Asif Ali Zardari has decided to drop out of a proposed meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, apparently unhappy over his blunt public comments telling him that Pakistan's soil should not be used for terrorist activities against India. The Indian side had said after their meeting in Yekaterinburg that Singh and Zardari would meet again on the sidelines of Non-Aligned Movement meeting in Egypt in mid-July after Foreign Secretaries of the two countries discuss steps taken by Pakistan to prevent terrorism directed against India.

However, Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit told the weekly news briefing today that Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani would lead the Pakistani delegation to next month's NAM summit to be held in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. Diplomatic and other sources said the move was a reaction to Singh's remarks, which the pro-establishment daily The News had described as "rude".

They said the intention was to send out a clear message that Singh's comments had not gone down well with the Pakistan government. Pakistan has been represented at the last few NAM summits by former President Pervez Musharraf. Basit however sought to play down the development. "We said the next meeting at Sharm el-Sheikh would be between the political leadership of the two countries. It was never said whether the President or the Prime Minister would represent Pakistan," he said.

The usually soft-spoken Singh caught Zardari off guard during their meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in Russia on Tuesday when he told him in front of journalists that Pakistan needed to control terrorism emanating from its territory. "I am happy to meet you, but my mandate is to tell you that the territory of Pakistan must not be used for terrorism," Singh was quoted as telling Zardari.

The Pakistani President then asked for journalists to be escorted out of the room so that the leaders could continue their talks in private. The News extensively covered Singh's remarks in a report headlined "Singh surprises with rude public remark" but other sections of the media played up Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi's comment that the meeting between Singh and Zardari was a "positive development".

The meeting between Singh and Zardari was the first high-level contact between the leadership of the two countries since last year's Mumbai terror attacks, which India blamed on Pakistan-based elements including the Lashkar-e-Taiba. Observers said the latest development could impact Pakistan's efforts to bring composite dialogue back on track. India put the peace process on hold in the wake of the Mumbai attacks and has linked the resumption of dialogue to Pakistan acting against perpetrators of the terrorist strike.

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