Islamabad:
After the curt Pillai remark, a jibe at his guest of yesterday, SM Krishna.
Pakistan Foreign Minister SM Qureshi was addressing the Pakistan media today, when he said about his talks with his Indian counterpart, SM Krishna, "Not once did I leave to take a phone call. I was the host and it is not our culture. But the Indian Foreign Minister received calls from Delhi during the talks."
Very much in sync with his comment that Delhi did not seem to have a roadmap for talks, while Pakistan was flexible and ready to discuss anything. "If India does not have the mandate for talks, we can wait," he said.
That then was the crux of Qureshi's words as he sought to address his constituency - Pakistan was ready for a dialogue with an open mind, India was not.
He accused India of being selective about the issues on the table, while Pakistan wanted a composite dialogue. "There can be no conditions when two countries engage in a dialogue," he said, saying the issues between the two countries were identified, but India wanted to narrow the focus.
Qureshi said Pakistan understood India had some core issues to discuss, but so did Pakistan and India had to understand that. "India cannot say we can discuss Sir Creek, but not Siachen", he said. "We realize the issues are complex and movement can be incremental, but all issues must be on the table," he added.
And then the K word. Jammu and Kashmir was core to Pakistan and the recent developments there could not be neglected, he said.
On terror, Qureshi said Pakistan was as much a victim and as keen to deal with the issue.
The two leaders were locked in dialogue for six hours on Thursday, after which they addressed a joint press conference which began on a note of bonhomie but unraveled fast as differences on many core issues came out in the open.