Mystery over change in SM Krishna's schedule persists

The mystery about the last-minute switch in external affairs minister's meetings with Pakistani leaders persists with SM Krishna himself saying that he doesn't know the reason.

The sudden change in his schedule on the afternoon of July 15 in Islamabad in the midst of his discussions with his Pakistani counterpart SM Qureshi has generated considerable speculation as to how the script may have gone wrong.

"The order of my meetings was changed. I came to know only when I was going. They said I would be meeting the President first and then the prime minister. I do not know what was the reason," Krishna said.

Krishna and Qureshi were said to have made good progress during their first session of talks which started at 11 am and lasted for nearly five hours, well beyond the schedule.

The minister's schedule was to leave at 3.20 pm and to reach prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's office to meet him at 3.30 pm. The call on president Asif Ali Zardari was to follow at 5.30 pm at the Presidential palace.

In the time slot Krishna was to meet Gilani, Pakistan's powerful army Chief Ashfaq Pervez Kayani met the prime minister. Kayani had also met Zardari.

When the talks resumed after Krishna's two call-ons, the atmosphere totally changed and Pakistan took an unexpectedly stringent posture leading to the deadlock at the talks.

Many commentators in India feel that it was Pakistani Army which put spokes in the way of progress between India and Pakistan.

Krishna did not want to go into the details of what went wrong but insisted that his meetings with both leaders went off very well and that was what matters.