“The people of both countries can legitimately ask today what is the force that compels Pakistan to disregard the agreements reached by two elected leaders and sabotage their implementation”, the foreign ministry said. Pakistan’s high commissioner to New Delhi had invited those leaders for a meeting with Aziz.
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The statement further said that it is not Pakistan that has placed any condition for the talks.
By the afternoon, the Pakistani side went public with its dismissal of the Indian demarche. It is the Indian side which has reneged on commitments agreed upon between the two heads of the government in the past year. Pakistan wishes to maintain good relations with all its neighbouring countries which requires a peaceful atmosphere, he observed.
Pakistan has conveyed to India that it would not be possible to accept its “advice” that Mr. Sartaj Aziz may not meet Hurriyet leaders during his forthcoming visit to India. Four wars and numberous military conflicts later, India and Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire in 2003.
The Home Minister said India’s intentions are clear to have dialogue with Pakistan, but that should be only on terrorism.
Pakistan Foreign office had said in Islamabad that consultations with Hurriyat leaders were a “routine matter” and a “long standing practice”.
India has signalled that those factors are deal-breakers.
Moreover, India has always held the position that there are only two, not three, stakeholders in the bilateral relationship. “We are serious about the talks and in no way can let it be sabotaged”, a senior official said.
India, the world’s largest democracy, had urged the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association to shift the conference venue to another country if Pakistan remained inflexible. There had been conflicting reports as the state-run Press Trust of India (PTI) first reported that talks had been called off but later retracted the story. “Together, these two actions indicated its reluctance to go forward with sincerity on the agreed process”.
Meanwhile, Congress leader Manish Tewari on Friday criticised the government’s move on Pakistan, saying: “The government is making a fool of itself”.
National Security Advisor Ajit Doval is scheduled to meet his Pakistani counterpart Sartaj Aziz for the talks in the national capital on Sunday.
Indian Deputy High Commissioner to Pakistan J P Singh on Friday visited the Foreign Office and delivered a copy of the statement made by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs regarding the upcoming talks.
Foreign Office Spokesperson Qazi Khalilullah said at a briefing here that Aziz will meet Hurriyat Conference leaders in New Delhi.
When the talks, to be held by each country’s national security adviser, were announced by the Indian and Pakistani prime ministers in July, the Kashmir dispute was omitted from their joint statement in favor of a focus on security matters.
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“Pakistan sees no reason to depart from this established practice”. This would allow India to argue that it had not allowed Pakistan to consult the Hurriyat before the talks.
