Qureshi caused a flutter when he appeared to bracket Hafiz Saeed's hate-India speeches with the remarks made by Pillai that David Headley had disclosed that ISI was involved in the Mumbai terror attack.
Union home secretary GK Pillai was at the centre of the Indo-Pak diplomatic row today after an extraordinary attack on him by Pakistan's foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, against which he was defended by India.
Qureshi caused a flutter when he appeared to bracket LeT operative Hafiz Saeed's hate-India speeches with the remarks made by Pillai that Pakistani-American terrorist David Headley had disclosed that ISI was involved in the Mumbai terror attack.
The Pakistani minister objected to his remarks on the eve of Indo-Pak talks and asked "to what extent" these helped the bilateral ties. He also claimed that his Indian counterpart SM Krishna was in agreement with him that such remarks were "uncalled for".
Krishna, who had not refuted Qureshi during their joint press conference in Islamabad yesterday, was today attacked by the BJP for not defending the home secretary.
On his return to Delhi, Krishna fielded questions on the subject and said there was "no question of comparison" between the statements of Saeed and Pillai.
"Hafiz Saeed is a person who has been speaking out of turn against India. He has been crying for jihad against India and we have always said that such people in Pakistan who incite hostile and anti-India propaganda will not smoothen relationship," he said.
But the external affairs minister chose not to refute Qureshi's statement that the two of them were of the same "opinion" on Pillai's remarks.
Meanwhile, government sources saw the outburst by Qureshi against Pillai as an effort to divert attention from the issue of terrorism and felt that the Pakistani minister may have been forced to do so by elements in his country who want to scuttle the talks.
The sources said the hawkish elements in Pakistan, which do not want dialogue between the two countries, were upset when the talks between the home ministers and home secretaries went off well last month.
The sources noted that the meeting between home ministers last month passed off so well that Pakistan's interior minister Rehman Malik went to the extent of telling P Chidambaram that India would not be disappointed when Islamabad replies to terror related queries the next time.
"The hawks in Pakistan do not want Indo-Pak talks. These elements could be behind the sudden outburst of Qureshi," a source said.
The sources said the contents of Pillai's statement had been conveyed to Pakistan before the talks.
"For rest of the information, India has told Pakistan to get in touch with the US department of justice and FBI. Home secretary has only repeated what the Pakistani agencies and government are well aware of," the source said.
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