Pak seeks 'meaningful talks, not photo-ops' with India

Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Friday said that India has so far failed to respond to Islamabad's overtures on restarting the stalled composite dialogue process.

Speaking in an interview to a TV channel, Qureshi reiterated that Islamabad wants New Delhi to respond and engage in a meaningful and constructive manner.

"I have always welcomed a meeting, but it has to be a meaningful meeting. It has to be a dialogue which is result oriented. We have had engagements -- we met on the sidelines in New York (at the United Nations General Assmebly). I shared with S M Krishna (Indian External Affairs Minister) a vision of the future," Qureshi said

"My roadmap of engagement for the future, they (India) have to respond, they have failed to respond so far. Pakistan is interested in an engagement which is meaningful, result oriented, we are no longer interested in a photo opportunity," he added.

Commenting on the Indian government's repeated charge that Pakistan has failed to bring those behind Mumbai terror attacks to justice, Qureshi said, "On the contrary, I think Pakistan has made reasonable progress on the investigation. The trial has begun, they (the accused) have been chargesheeted, they are under trial and we feel that we have collected sufficient evidence against them to argue a good case for their conviction. As far as (Jmat-ud-Dawa chief) Hafiz Saeed is considered, honestly the evidence provided is inadequate. We won't want to prosecute him, but if the case can't stand in court, we can't move forward on the matter."

Responding to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's recent statement in Kashmir that if Pakistan abjures terror, he was ready to meet Pakistan more than half way on talks, Foreign Minister Qureshi said, "I think we have to get out of the old mindset. We have to realise that there is a great opportunity coming our way. If you want to limit the dialogue, that will not be acceptable to Pakistan."

"Let us sit and talk, and talk as neighbours who have to co-exist, we have to help each other. The challenge is too large. I think you (India) are being myopic. You are being narrow minded. You have to look at the broader picture, and the broader picture demands co-operation and not confrontation," he concluded.