The Foreign Office on Saturday denied media reports suggesting the meeting between Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Afghan President Hamid Karzai on the sidelines of the SAARC Summit in the Maldives was held in a ‘tense’ atmosphere and did not conclude on a positive note.
Reporting on the meeting between the Pakistan and Afghanistan leaders from Addu in the Maldives, an English daily had claimed efforts to defuse tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan appeared to suffer a setback on Friday when a meeting between Gilani and Karzai did not conclude on a positive note.
It said, “According to a member of the Pakistani delegation, President Karzai adopted a rather aggressive posture at the meeting held at the Shangrila resort in Addu and bombarded us with a number of demands laced with accusations.”
Another newspaper quoted a federal minister saying, “The meeting took place in a highly tense atmosphere as the Afghan president was not in a mood to listen to anyone.”
According to report, the minister said, “Frankly speaking, PM Gilani was taken aback since he had expected a friendly gesture from the Afghan president.”
