New Delhi, June 26 (IBNS) India and Pakistan foreign minister level talks have been postponed apparently owing to Presidential polls in India and a new date in August is being considered, said External Affairs Ministry (MEA) spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin here on Tuesday.
Earlier reports said Pakistan wanted the talks to be held on July 19, but that was the date of the Presidential polls and so the Indian side sought postponement.
The MEA official said the postponing of talks is not related to the recent arrest of the key suspect and Pakistan based India-born handler in the 26/11 attack of Mumbai.
"Rescheduling is based on what is suitable to us and what is suitable to the authorities in Pakistan. We are looking at a date sometime in August," he said.
"Please do not think scheduling issues is outcome of substantive problem," Akbaruddin said.
"As regards the issue of change of the dates it is purely a scheduling issue because of scheduling of another engagement. We will finalize on new dates," he said, indicating the foreign minister S M Krishna would also be a voter in the Presidential polls.
He said: "At the end there should be a meeting between the foreign ministers of India and Pakistan. We are working keeping that in mind."
In the backdrop of the reports that Abu Hamza or Abu Jindal, the key suspect in the 26/11 Mumbai attack who was arrested from the New Delhi airport on June 21, was in Saudi Arabia to collect funds on behalf of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) for a major strike again in India and that he was deported by the Arab nation, the MEA official said India and Saudi Arabia shares excellent ties.
