Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has detached himself from the little known Balusa Group, a Track II initiative (non-official diplomacy) involving well-known Pakistanis and Indians, funded by a Pakistani American, Shirin Taherkheli, said a news report. A Pakistan Foreign Office spokesman said that since Qureshi had taken charge as the Foreign Minister of Pakistan, he no longer remained connected with the Balusa Group, the report appearing in the leading English language daily The News said. Another prominent Pakistani, Major General (retd) Mahmud Ali Durrani, who will take charge as the National Security Adviser, has also been part of Balusa, but it is not known whether he was still with this initiative after he had taken over as Pakistan's ambassador to the United States and now after his new assignment in Islamabad. Some others connected with the Balusa Group are Syed Babar Ali, Lt. Gen. (retd) Farrakh Khan, Shaharyar Khan and Toufiq Siddiqi. On the Indian side, General Satish Nambiar, Kuldip Nayar, Raja Mohan, Bharat Bhushan and Salman Haidar are its members. __
