Pakistan derailed the dialogue process : Sushma Swaraj

New Delhi, India on Monday blamed Pakistan for “derailing” the dialogue process but said there is “no full stop” in diplomatic relations and people always move forward after the short pauses, indicating that there may be a window for resumption of talks in near future. Questioning the rationale behind Pakistan holding talks with Kashmiri separatists, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj said it was not “too much” to accept from Pakistan that it should not interfere in the internal matters of India. However, when asked about future strategy in dealing with Pakistan, she said “there is no full stop in diplomacy, it’s always comas and semi colon. And after all this, people always move forward. There are no full stops in diplomatic journey.” Asked if Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet his Pakistan counterpart Nawaz Sharif on the sideline of UN general assembly in New York later this month, the minister said it will depend on how the situation will emerge in coming days and they were not going with any “preset mind” there. Noting that consequent to the meeting between Modi and Sharif, who had come here for swearing-in of the Prime Minister, it was decided that the two foreign secretaries will meet in Islamabad on 25 August. “I do not know what was the need for their high commissioner to invite the Kashmiri separatists and talk to them. He himself invited them. Why they derailed the talks (with India)? What did they achieve?… Who derailed the initiative? (It is) Pakistan,” the minister said. Swaraj also expressed India’s disappointment in delay of the trial of Mumbai terror attack case in Pakistan while drawing a distinction between 2008 attacks in the country’s commercial capital and bomb blasts in Samjhauta Express in 2007. The external affairs minister, who was presenting a “report card” of 100 days in office, also talked about wide- range of foreign policy-related developments including inviting South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation leaders to the swearing-in of Modi government, priority to neighbourhood by visiting Bhutan and Nepal, upcoming visit of the Chinese President and Modi’s high- profile visit to the US later this month. Modi will hold bilateral talks with US President Barack Obama on 30 September apart from addressing the UN general assembly in New York, Swaraj said.