Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Thursday, said it was “googly” by the Prime Minister Imran Khan to India that had forced the Indian government to send their minister at the ground-breaking ceremony at Kartarpur corridor, despite some of Indian minister’s rejections.
Qureshi’s remark comes after Indian external affair minister Sushma Swaraj attacked Pakistan and it government declining the invitation of Kartarpur corridor, saying no bilateral talks going to be organized unless Islamabad doesn’t stop terror activities against India.
Qureshi said the entire world saw that yesterday Imran Khan threw “googly” to India, as despite of their (Indian) minister’s rejection, they had to send their ministers across in the inauguration of Kartarpur corridor.
Though, Swaraj rejected Pakistani invitation to the ceremony at Kartarpur corridor due to her “prior commitments”, India represented Union minister Harsimrat kaur Badal and Hardeep Singh Puri at the event on Wednesday.
Qureshi recalled Khan’s statement and said, “Imran Khan told India, you take one step, we’ll take two. As a step towards engagement, we decided to meet in New York in September (on the sidelines of UNGA meet). I don’t know why it was called off. I wouldn’t say that Sushma Swaraj felt shy, but their government became a hurdle.”
Qureshi alleged that even after India received a written letter from Khan to resume bilateral talks, India refused to engage.
Qureshi said, “Tensions with India are not hidden from anyone, but our approach is people-centric and we need peace for people to prosper. We need peace in order to speed up the development of our country.”
Qureshi said Pakistan government is committed to have a peaceful ties with their neighbours. He also said now Pakistan have to settle problems with Afghanistan by setting up an instrumental framework.