Pakistan keeps India guessing on Qureshi visit

With still no word from Pakistan on the possible visit of its foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi to New Delhi early next year,official sources on Thursday said it is getting conflicting signals despite regular reaffirmations from India on External Affairs Minister S M Krishnas invitation to Qureshi. While one message coming through from Islamabad is that the visit will take place only if there is an assurance of concrete deliverables,the other message is that the Pakistan Foreign Minister will certainly come and the only aspect being looked at is whether it should be in January or a few months later. India,on its part,has made it known that it would welcome the Pakistan Foreign Minister and is willing to hold talks on all bilateral issues but at the same time,sources said,New Delhi also expects Islamabad to bring the perpetrators of 26/11 to some form of justice.While India tries to make sense of these contradictory signals,it is also careful not to provoke Pakistan without a basis. So,government sources on Thursday sought to dispel speculation on a Pakistan link in the Varanasi blast,saying investigators were still connecting the dots and that they had not found any evidence yet to establish a Pakistan link to the terror strike. However,the government is clear that the attack was indeed carried out by rump elements of the Indian Mujahideen. Sources said there was no doubt that the Indian Mujahideen was a creation of the Lashkar-e-Toiba and while those contacts remain,it was too early to make any conclusions. Moreover,sources added,the forensic investigation is very complicated in this case because of the near stampede like situation after the blast that destroyed a lot of the forensic evidence. On the capabilities of the current lot of Indian Mujahideen terrorists,sources said,the capacity to carry out major strikes is much less than before.