Qureshi episode was avoidable,says PM

Singh was speaking for the first time on the fiasco in Islamabad. Addressing a joint press conference with visiting UK Prime Minister David Cameron,the Prime Minister said in response to a question on the India-Pakistan meeting: “We are too close to the events to pass judgment on the outcome of the meeting. There was an agreement on a large number of issues. The way the press conference was handled by the Foreign Minister of Pakistan could have been avoided. It detracts from the large number of agreements.”

Qureshi had bracketed Lashkar founder Hafiz Saeed and Home Secretary G K Pillai together after the latter’s remarks to The Indian Express that the ISI was behind the 26/11 attacks from “beginning to end.”

Singh said today he hoped dialogue would be restored “sooner or later” and that Pakistan would do it with a “sense of purpose.”

Cameron,who yesterday in Bangalore warned Pakistan against “promoting terror in any way in India,” said: “I think the right thing to do is to explain it… no one is in doubt that terrorist groups in Pakistan exist… while Pakistan has taken some steps to combat terrorism,it needs to take further steps. We will continue to work with Pakistan in their fight against terror groups,whether it is the LeT,or the Afghan Taliban or the Pakistan Taliban.”

Singh said,“Pakistan should be as serious on terror on the eastern border as on the western border… and the world community will use its good offices in this regard.”

Cameron said he would “frankly,clearly and openly” discuss with the Pakistan leadership steps to contain terror from its soil.

The meeting of the two Prime Ministers was preceded by meetings with President Pratibha Patil,Vice President Hamid Ansari and Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj.