On Monday, Sharif also chaired a high-level meeting to discuss the agenda of the NSA-level talks. A thaw was managed a year later at an unexpected meeting in Ufa in Russian Federation between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistani premier Nawaz Sharif, with an agreement to resume dialogue.
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Finalising a strategy for the upcoming national security advisers (NSA) interaction between Pakistan and its arch rival India, the top civil and military leadership has agreed to adopt an aggressive stance on terrorism related issues but a give-and-take approach on bilateral disputes.
It was Pakistan which first came up with the idea to have a dialogue between Aziz and Doval as it felt it had enough evidence to confront India with over, as it alleges, New Delhi’s support to insurgency in Balochistan and FATA.
They said the ISI chief briefed Sharif about RAW’s activities in the country and repeated ceasefire violations by Indian troops along the LoC. No date has been fixed for next round of FS-level talks.
Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Aziz, Prime Minister’s Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi and other officials were present during the meetings on both the days. This latest invitation to Hurriyat leaders will be seen as reaffirmation that Pakistan wants to drag the Kashmir issue into the talks, a subject that India is very clear can not be included in the mandate, with the talks limited to discussing “all forms of terrorism”.
Farooq’s spokesperson Shahid-Ul-Islam also confirmed the invite and said: “We have been invited for the reception of Sartaj Aziz on the day of NSA talks”.
In August 2014, India had called off scheduled talks between Foreign Secretaries in Islamabad over the Pakistan High Commissioner’s meeting with Hurriyat leaders in Delhi, pointing to “new red lines” in engagement.
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Sources said if Pakistan raises the issue of Samjhauta Express blast case, Doval will counter Aziz that the key accused Swami Assemananda continues to be in jail but Lakhvi and his accomplice are no longer in prison and roaming freely.
