Earlier in Islamabad, Sartaj Aziz, adviser to the prime minister of Pakistan on national security and foreign affairs, said he was “still prepared to go to New Delhi for NSA talks without any preconditions”.
Advertisement
She said that there could not be any “third party” to India-Pakistan talks since both countries had agreed to resolve their issues bilaterally, in accordance with the Simla Agreement signed between the two countries after the 1971 war.
On Saturday, Aziz said it was a normal practice on the part of Pakistani leaders to meet with Kashmiri leaders during visits to India.
Talks between the two countries, scheduled for August 24, hang by a thread and have been overshadowed by the Kashmir dispute, with India “advising” Pakistan not to meet the Kashmiri resistance leadership while the Pakistani side maintaining its position that it considered “Hurriyat” as the only legitimate representatives of Kashmiris.
“It is a success for our diplomacy because Pakistan has initiated the calling-off of talks”.
Swaraj said that any meeting between Aziz and Kashmiri separatist leaders before any formal bilateral dialogue would be “unacceptable”.
Swaraj met reporters here about three hours after Aziz held a press conference in Islamabad at which he said he was prepared to Delhi for talks without any pre-conditions.
Though accusing India of so-called “false flag” operations is a staple of Pakistani television commentators, this is perhaps the first time the Government of Pakistan has levelled such a charge against New Delhi.
Islamabad, conveying their decision of cancelation of talks, said in its official statement, talks can’t happen on India’s pre-conditions.
Jabbar Khan, another Karachi-based political and economic analyst, said the meeting was mainly a product of global pressure, pointing towards a telephone discussion about the talks last week, between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Sharif.
Both India and Pakistan are more interested in demonstrating to the rest of the world that they are willing to talk to their unfriendly neighbour than in actually talking. Mufti, who has been a former home minister of India, and is now the topmost elected member of Jammu and Kashmir, is being described as a pro-Pakistan chief minister exactly by those who had earlier hailed the 2014 elections in Jammu and Kashmir as verdict for Indian democracy and India.
Minister Swaraj issued an ultimatum, making it clear that Pakistan had just till “this night” to assure her government that it would not raise Kashmir, and stick to the agenda of terrorism and related issues during the NSA level talks.
Sushma Swaraj said the operative part of the July 10 Ufa talks was that terrorism and talks cannot go together, and that a productive dialogue can be held only in an atmosphere free from terrorism and violence.
When the UPA took over, the Hurriyat Conference held another round of talks with then prime minister Manmohan Singh on September 6, 2005.
Advertisement
She said Aziz was saying so because they have made up their mind on not coming to Delhi for talks. “They are welcome to come”, she said, provided Pakistan declared it would comply.
