New Delhi: Noting that Pakistan had done
nothing on 26/11 case, former National Security Adviser
Brajesh Mishra today said the government had made a "serious
mistake" by holding talks and these were "bound to fail".
Mishra also attacked External Affairs Minister S M
Krishna for not defending Home Secretary G K Pillai when he
was attacked by Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi
during their joint press conference in Islamabad on July 16.
The talks were "bound to fail" as there were elements in
both India and Pakistan who were not very happy with the way
talks had been arranged, he said in an interview.
"There have been problems both on our side and on
Pakistani side. It is now fairly well known that even the
government was divided on the issue of undertaking talks with
Pakistan without Pakistan having done anything on terrorism,"
he said.
Asked if it was a "serious mistake" on government's
part to resume dialogue with Pakistan, Mishra said, "most
certainly it was. Pakistan has done literally nothing against
those responsible for carrying out 26/11 Mumbai attacks."
He added that the government should not have held
talks, particularly if it knew about the involvement of
Pakistan's armed forces' personnel in the Mumbai attack.
"Where was the need to go and talk to the civilian
authorities when you know that armed forces are not going to
allow any kind of forward movement," asked Mishra who was NSA
during the NDA government.
"Even within the Congress party, there have been
differing voices" on holding talks with Pakistan, he said,
noting that Pakistani armed forces wanted the tension between
the two countries to continue while part of the civil
establishment wanted to move forward.
He said unless Pakistan goes back to the commitment
made by General Parvez Musharraf to then Prime Minister Atal
Bihari Vajpayee that terrorism and dialogue can't go together,
"there is no point in talking to Pakistan."
On Qureshi's attack on Pillai, Mishra said, "When the
External Affairs Minister goes abroad, he is not representing
himself, he is representing a billion people and if a billion
people are going to be put in shame..it is your duty unless
you had agreed with him in private."
He said he was "surprised" that Krishna did not
contradict Qureshi.
On whether he viewed it as a serious mistake, Mishra
said "yes".
On Krishna's invitation Quershi for further talks,
Mishra said, "(this is) absolutely wrong."
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, July 20, 2010, 21:58