India’s foreign minister Sushma Swaraj sent a strong message to Pakistan Saturday by saying its top security officer was most welcome to come to India for talks as long as they stuck to the terror agenda and not anything else.
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The two-day secretary-level talks between the two countries were scheduled to be held on August 23 and 24.
MEA Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said as per Ufa deal, NSAs were to discuss issues linked to terror and new conditions by Pakistan can’t be basis for going forward.
If Pakistan feels Indian positions are pre-conditions, then there will be no talks: SwarajIf Pakistan does not agree to India’s position, there will be no talks: SwarajPakistan is running away from talks which will be held only when we get a reply.
India on Friday asserted that it sticks to the commitment between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in Ufa to engage in a substantive discussion on terrorism.
Tensions flared as Islamabad rejected Delhi’s advisory against meeting Hurriyat leaders and sought to include Kashmir in the agenda of Monday’s talks between Aziz and Indian NSA Ajit Doval.
He criticised the Indian government for its insistence that he should not meet Kashmiri separatist leaders while in New Delhi.
Shah and other Hurriyat Conference leaders of Kashmir have been invited by the Pakistan envoy in New Delhi, Abdul Basit, for Aziz’s reception party. Singhvi said that it was unfortunate that the government has been making a “laughing spectacle of itself on the management of talks even before talks started” with an “imploding and ostracised” Pakistan.
Meanwhile, senior resistance leader and Hurriyat (G) Chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani also remained under house arrest in the Kashmiri city of Srinagar on Saturday.
Although there was no clear official announcement regarding the cancellation of the talks from either side, a late night statement issued by Pakistan’s Foreign Office (FO) on Friday suggested the meeting is unlikely to take place.
According to diplomatic sources, India has demanded that the Kashmir issue be dropped from the agenda, and Pakistan should cancel its meeting with Hurriyat leaders. Pakistan regards them as genuine stakeholders in the efforts to find a lasting solution of the Kashmir Dispute.
“Three point agenda including exploring modalities for the talks for all outstanding issues proposed by Pakistan was in keeping with Ufa understanding”, Aziz pointed out. We are prepared to hold the talks.
The meeting that was agreed on in Ufa did not have Kashmir on the agenda, the minister added.
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India has blamed the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai, which claimed 166 lives, on groups based in Pakistan and has been demanding action against them, among other things. “It was decided by the political and military leadership that Pakistan would take Hurriyat leaders into complete confidence over the talks with India”, said a Pakistani official in Islamabad.
