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Criticising the ruling National Democratic Alliance regime over the collapse of the proposed National Security Adivosr-level talks with Pakistan, former external affairs minister Salman Khurshid on Sunday said that it has a great inclination of pulling rabbits out of hats.
Expressing his concern over the talks not taking place after so much hype post last month’s discussions between the Indian and Pakistan prime ministers in Ufa, Russia, on the sidelines of the SCO Summit, Khurshid said that this was nothing but a case of constant flip flop by the Narendra Modi-led government that was almost always landing in a flop state on foreign policy since it came to power in May last year.
He said: “Flip flop, flip flop and finally flop, this is what our government has to show. The problem is, did you (Indian government) not know that this would happen?”
“They (India) thinks they (Pakistan) are coming here to talk to them (New Delhi) on or about terrorism, which we (India) accuses them of. How can we (India) talk on something which they (Pakistan) have categorically said they do not accept and will never accept,” he added.
On the question of the Hurriyat leadership and other separatist representatives meeting with the Pakistan NSA Sartaj Aziz in New Delhi on Sunday, and Pakistan’s insistence that the views of the Hurriyat be taken onboard during the talks, Khurshid, said, “Hurriyat can’t be a part of this talk.”
He maintained that the present government at the Centre had come up short in terms of what to expect and what not to expect.
He asked, “Why did you (India) not expect that they (Pakistan) would not do it?”
“This government has a great inclination of pulling rabbits out of hats. We are all disappointed, the whole country is disappointed. A huge loss is being caused to our people. We are losing every day,” the former external affairs minister said.
Khurshid’s criticism comes a day after Pakistan cancelled the NSA-level talks following an exchange of verbal volleys with the Indian government over what would constitute the agenda for the talks.
Pakistan insisted that the Kashmir issue must be taken up at the meeting that was scheduled for August 23 and 24, while India insisted that the discussions must remain focused on the issue of terror and violence as agreed upon by the prime ministers of the two countries during their meeting on the sidelines of the SCO Summit in Ufa, Russia.