Miss Alone
Prime VIP
It was not a high voltage India-Pak cricket match but it was no less. Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan met at the SAARC Interior Ministers' meet in Islamabad in a tense atmosphere.
Reportedly, Singh left Pakistan in a huff at the mention of Kashmir by Pakistan. The hosts allegedly did not courtesy which forced Indian Home Minister to skip the lunch.
Did host Pakistan did not extend courtesy to the Indian Home Minister?
THE INDIAN VERSION
The Indian delegation had informed the hosts that since Parliament session was on, Singh would have to leave early.
After Afghanistan and Bhutan, the Indian Home Minister made a strong speech on terrorism. He sought to put Pakistan in a spot for calling terrorists as martyrs. He reiterated India's consistent stand that there cannot be good or bad terrorists.
That rattled the Pakistan home minister. While delivering his speech, Khan deviated from his written speech and sought to implicate India over alleged atrocities in Kashmir. He was so rattled that when the conference took a break for lunch, the Pakistani home minister was conspicuous by his absence.
Taking exception to the Pakistani home minister's incivility, the Indian delegation decided to skip lunch and have it inside the hotel room instead. It was left to the Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan to represent India's point of view.
Further, when Singh and other delegates left Pakistan, sources said, there were no senior officers from the hosts.
THE PAKISTANI VERSION
Media reports in the neighbouring country, however, suggested that Rajnath Singh along with the Indian delegation left the SAARC conference after his Pakistani counterpart mentioned the Kashmir issue and the actions of Indian forces in Kashmir as brutality and terrorism.
It is believed that Singh got upset over Khan pushing the Kashmir unrest. The Indian delegates too had an argument with their Pakistani counterparts and they exchanged harsh words.
As per Pakistan media reports, Singh left without having a goodbye handshake with Khan. He went straight to the hotel, checked out from there and left for India, leaving the Indian Consulate.
Meanwhile, on landing in New Delhi, Singh spoke of terror groups, including Lashkar chief Hafiz Saeed and Hizbul Mujhahideen chief Syed Salahuddin, leading protests against him.
"What happened in Pakistan is for all to see. I will be briefing the PM and address Parliament soon," he said.
India has constantly accused Pakistan of sponsoring terrorism in the Kashmir Valley. Before Singh had headed to Islamabad, a written statement by Ministry of Home Affairs in Parliament bluntly accused Pakistan of using social media and vested interests to raise slogans against Indian forces to give it a semblance of civil unrest.
Pakistan, on other hand, raised the Kashmir bogey. Despite the threat to the Indian Home Minister, the Indian government decided to send him. It was important to not only to have Indian voice but also India's commitment not to bow down to terror, it was decided.
