Natwar Singh dismisses former Pak Minister Qureshi's criticism of India as 'absolutely irrelevant'

Former External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh on Sunday dismissed former Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi's criticism of India as "absolutely irrelevant".

Speaking to ANI, Singh said, "We should pay absolutely no attention to what Qureshi has said. It is irrelevant as far as India is concerned."

Singh's remarks came in response to Qureshi's statements on the accidental misfire of a missile from India and the Kashmir issue.

Speaking on the no-confidence motion against the Imran Khan government, Qureshi on Saturday said that the accidental firing of the missile from India into Pakistan in early March could have escalated into a full-fledged war between the two nuclear countries. Further talking about the Kashmir issue, he had said that India seeks to keep Kashmiris "bounded".

Further speaking on the nomination of Shehbaz Sharif as Prime Minister candidate by the Pakistan opposition, Singh said that the nomination is a formality as his election as the Prime Minister is already decided.

"This will be a formality. They have decided that Shehbaz will be the next Prime Minister. And I am sure they have also got the approval from Nawaz Sharif who is in London. They must be in touch with him," he stated.

Singh, however, added that it will be interesting to watch the next step of former Pakistan PM Imran Khan.

"What we have to watch is what former Prime Minister Imran khan does. Does he stay for assembly tomorrow? That is one option for him. Second, if he goes there, there will be big rumpus because he still has big people with him and the people who left him will also be there. They are not going to let the assembly function. This is my guess," he added.

Singh further said that Imran Khan's next steps should be watched as what has been happening in Pakistan for the last four to five days has deteriorated the image of the country.

On being asked about the impact of change in Pakistan's Prime Minister on India, the former minister said that it would not impact India as it is Pakistan's internal matter.

"It won't impact India at all. It's their internal matter," he stated.

Notably, Imran Khan has become the first Prime Minister of Pakistan to lose a no-trust vote in the National Assembly.

Despite several attempts to block the no-confidence motion here in the National Assembly, the voting took place after midnight in which as many as 174 members voted in favour of the motion in the 342-member House while members of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) were absent.

Following this, the opposition parties nominated Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) as their joint candidate while Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) nominated Shah Mahmood Qureshi for the country's Prime Minister's election, scheduled on Monday, according to Pakistani media.

( With inputs from ANI )