New Delhi: Here's a blunt admission of what went wrong when the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan met in Islamabad last week. In an exclusive interview to NDTV, SM Krishna said Indian Home Secretary GK Pillai's comments may have been factual, but they were poorly timed. (
Read: Full Transcript)
On the eve of the Indo-Pak talks, Pillai said that the interrogation of David Coleman Headley, who helped plan 26/11, revealed that Pakistan's ISI was involved "from beginning to end" with the attack against Mumbai.
"Well, the Home Secretary spoke the truth. The Home Secretary did convey whatever Headley had confessed, whatever Headley had told our interrogators, when a team of them went to US. I have absolutely no problem with that. I can live with that. But the only question is the timing." said Krishna in his interview today.
Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had said Pillai's remarks were uncalled for, and tried to equate them to hate speeches by Hafiz Saeed, a leader of terrorist group Lashkar-e-Toiba, and the man who India holds responsible for its worst-ever terror attack. (
Indo-Pak talks: After 6-hour-long meeting, differences in public)
Describing the comparison to Saeed as "ridiculous," Krishna said it would have been unbecoming to respond. He said, "In a press conference the whole atmosphere was charged. And the point that Mr Qureshi was trying to make, to draw a comparison between Hafiz Saeed and Home Secretary Pillai, I think, that was the most ridiculous statement that one could hear of. So I think that the comparison in itself was so ridiculous that I didn't feel like even attempting to scotch that." (
Read: Pak wrong to make Hafiz Saeed comparison, says Krishna on Pillai)
The Pakistan Foreign Minister's outburst at the press conference in Islamabad, after his six hour long talks with SM Krishna were the most controversial headlines that emerged from the India-Pakistan talks. The fact that the External Affairs Minister did not object to Qureshi, at the press conference also led to widespread criticism at home. (
Read: India selective, not fully ready for talks, says Qureshi)
The Congress, today steered clear of External Affairs Minister's disapproval of the comments by Home Secretary Pillai on the eve of Indo-Pak talks. "It is essentially a governance issue. If at all, the Minister of External Affairs has said something, it is for the government to respond to it if it considers so essential," said party spokesperson Manish Tewari.
Krishna also said that the talks with Qureshi were "by and large useful" and that they helped reduce the trust deficit between the two countries. He also said that there was "no rancour" between Qureshi and him during the talks or the press conference that followed. (
Read: Krishna never backed Qureshi on Pillai, says Nirupama Rao)
But barely 12 hours after that joint press conference, Qureshi held another press conference for the Pakistani media where he was aggressive in targeting both India and Krishna. He said India was not fully prepared for the dialogue, and that Krishna received multiple calls from New Delhi instructing him on how to handle the talks. Krishna tells NDTV that "these remarks were unexpected and unwelcome."
(Read: Qureshi: India selective, not fully ready for talks)