India protests to Turkey for not getting Istanbul meet invite

New Delhi, Jan 29 (PTI) India has lodged a protest with
Turkey for not being invited to a conference of Afghanistan's
immediate neighbours held in Istanbul this week and the
country was "apologetic" over the action.

"It was unfortunate that India was not invited to the
conference. We have taken up the matter with the Turkish
government....They were very apologetic," highly-placed
sources said here Friday.
Asked about the reason for such an action, they said it
seems Turkey was deferential to Pakistan's wishes.
According to reports, India's absence at the conference
of Afghanistan and its six immediate neighbours, held on
Tuesday, stemmed from Pakistan's objection conveyed to the
Turkish side.
It was attended by Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari,
Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai and senior diplomats and
ministers from the UK, the US, Iran, Tajikistan, China, Saudi
Arabia, Kyrgyzstan, the UAE and Russia among others.
Asked about India's view on the re-integration of
pro-Taliban elements who want to join the mainstream, the
sources said "let's give it a chance", indicating that New
Delhi is not completely opposed to holding talks with them.
They said Afghanistan government has a "delicate" task of
re-integrating such elements.
Sources said India will continue to work to make itself
relevant in Afghanistan. PTI PYK
RBT


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