22 July 2010
A full-blown turf war has broken out on Raisina Hill with the
home ministry taking
issue with the external affairs ministry Thursday for distorting the
controversy
surrounding the recently concluded talks with Pakistan.
Caught in the middle of it all is the Congress party, which is now
looking towards Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh to spell out how he proposes to take the
dialogue process
with Pakistan forward given the resentment among Opposition parties,
which are gearing
up for the Parliament session beginning next week. PMO sources said
that they were monitoring the situation.
Sources said the talks with Pakistan did not fail on
account of the home
secretary's remarks but because the Pakistan army intervened. They
accused
Islamabad of making a ''backdoor'' attempt to restart the stalled
composite dialogue by
insisting on a time table for talks on issues that also included
Kashmir, Siachen, and
peace and security.
The sources said external affairs minister SM Krishna and his Pakistan
counterpart Shah
Mahmood Qureshi had made good progress in their first session of talks
which started at
11 am and lasted nearly five hours. However, sudden changes were
brought in Mr
Krishna's schedule in the afternoon. Barely 20 minutes prior to his
scheduled meeting
with Pakistan prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, Mr Krishna was
informed that he would
be calling on President Asif Ali Zardari instead, to be followed by his
meeting with Gilani.
It was in this time that Pakistan's army chief Ashfaq Pervez Kayani met
Gilani. When the
Krishna-Qureshi talks resumed later in the afternoon, Pakistan took a
strident posture
and dashed the prospects of making headway on the talks.
The sources cautioned that the inter-ministerial
squabbling would only serve to provide Pakistan with an excuse to
wriggle out of its
role in 26/11.
Contrary to reports, that the home ministry did not keep the external
affairs ministry in
the loop about 26/11 co-conspirator David Coleman Headley's
interrogation, the sources
said home minister P Chidambaram had shared details of it with the
cabinet committee
on security, of which Mr Krishna is a member. The home minister is
understood to have
shared copies of Headley's interrogation report with all the ministers
concerned, besides
national security adviser Shivshankar Menon. The sources said Indian
high
commissioner to Islamabad and a "note taker" from the Indian mission
there were
present in all but one meeting which the Indian side had had with
Pakistan when home
minister P Chidambaram visited that country in June. "Except the one-
on-one meeting
between home minister Chidambaram and Pakistan's interior minister
Rehman Malik, in
all the other meetings the high commissioner and a 'note taker' from
the mission were
present. So they are privy to all information that the delegation
discussed with Pakistan,"
a source said.
The sources dismissed the claims that the home secretary had put out
the details of
Headley's interrogation in the public domain. Even Mr Krishna had said
that Headley's
interrogation has revealed many things and that India cannot be faulted
for asking
Pakistan to take suitable action based on "such irrefutable evidence",
it was pointed out.
Further, the sources maintained that New Delhi had not violated
any
understanding reached with the US on the interrogation of Headley.
Reacting to reports
that the US was upset with Indian officials going public with what
Headley had told Indian
investigators, a source said, "There will be no case against Headley
using his
confession. But we can use his interrogation details against other
persons accused in
the case". Therefore, the comments made by officials here citing
Headley's revelations
of ISI's involvement in 26/11 did not violate the agreement, the source
explained.
home ministry taking
issue with the external affairs ministry Thursday for distorting the
controversy
surrounding the recently concluded talks with Pakistan.
Caught in the middle of it all is the Congress party, which is now
looking towards Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh to spell out how he proposes to take the
dialogue process
with Pakistan forward given the resentment among Opposition parties,
which are gearing
up for the Parliament session beginning next week. PMO sources said
that they were monitoring the situation.
Sources said the talks with Pakistan did not fail on
account of the home
secretary's remarks but because the Pakistan army intervened. They
accused
Islamabad of making a ''backdoor'' attempt to restart the stalled
composite dialogue by
insisting on a time table for talks on issues that also included
Kashmir, Siachen, and
peace and security.
The sources said external affairs minister SM Krishna and his Pakistan
counterpart Shah
Mahmood Qureshi had made good progress in their first session of talks
which started at
11 am and lasted nearly five hours. However, sudden changes were
brought in Mr
Krishna's schedule in the afternoon. Barely 20 minutes prior to his
scheduled meeting
with Pakistan prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, Mr Krishna was
informed that he would
be calling on President Asif Ali Zardari instead, to be followed by his
meeting with Gilani.
It was in this time that Pakistan's army chief Ashfaq Pervez Kayani met
Gilani. When the
Krishna-Qureshi talks resumed later in the afternoon, Pakistan took a
strident posture
and dashed the prospects of making headway on the talks.
The sources cautioned that the inter-ministerial
squabbling would only serve to provide Pakistan with an excuse to
wriggle out of its
role in 26/11.
Contrary to reports, that the home ministry did not keep the external
affairs ministry in
the loop about 26/11 co-conspirator David Coleman Headley's
interrogation, the sources
said home minister P Chidambaram had shared details of it with the
cabinet committee
on security, of which Mr Krishna is a member. The home minister is
understood to have
shared copies of Headley's interrogation report with all the ministers
concerned, besides
national security adviser Shivshankar Menon. The sources said Indian
high
commissioner to Islamabad and a "note taker" from the Indian mission
there were
present in all but one meeting which the Indian side had had with
Pakistan when home
minister P Chidambaram visited that country in June. "Except the one-
on-one meeting
between home minister Chidambaram and Pakistan's interior minister
Rehman Malik, in
all the other meetings the high commissioner and a 'note taker' from
the mission were
present. So they are privy to all information that the delegation
discussed with Pakistan,"
a source said.
The sources dismissed the claims that the home secretary had put out
the details of
Headley's interrogation in the public domain. Even Mr Krishna had said
that Headley's
interrogation has revealed many things and that India cannot be faulted
for asking
Pakistan to take suitable action based on "such irrefutable evidence",
it was pointed out.
Further, the sources maintained that New Delhi had not violated
any
understanding reached with the US on the interrogation of Headley.
Reacting to reports
that the US was upset with Indian officials going public with what
Headley had told Indian
investigators, a source said, "There will be no case against Headley
using his
confession. But we can use his interrogation details against other
persons accused in
the case". Therefore, the comments made by officials here citing
Headley's revelations
of ISI's involvement in 26/11 did not violate the agreement, the source
explained.
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