Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh categorically said that now onus is on Pakistan on the success of the National Security Advisor (NSA) level talks between the two countries. He claimed that India has clearly indicated that except terror and terrorism no other talks would be taken up during this meet.
"We have already conveyed our decision to Pakistan but they are yet to respond so far," said Singh while talking to media persons here on Saturday afternoon. "India was committed to the dialogues with Pakistan as per the commitment between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in Ufa (Russia) summit recently," he said while adding that India will talk only on terrorism. The agenda of terrorism was agreed upon in Ufa and India sticks to that commitment, he added.
However, the Union minister was not committal on whether the Hurriyat leaders would be allowed to meet the Pakistani delegation or not. "It is better to keep silent on some issues," he stated. The Pakistan NSA, Sartaj Aziz will likely to meet Hurriyat leader SAS Geelani on Monday morning.
Singh's remarks came against the backdrop of the upcoming Indo-Pak NSA-level talks appearing to be virtually off with the two countries locked in a confrontation over Kashmiri separatists leading to a blame game. India made it clear to Pakistan that a meeting between the separatists and Pakistan's National Security Adviser Sartaj Aziz, who is scheduled to arrive on Sunday for the talks with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval, was unacceptable.
Meanwhile Rajnath Singh assured a delegation of media persons that the Central Government would consider constitution of a special cell in the home ministry to insure the safety and security of journalists in the country. He was speaking to a delegation of lucknow based journalists who sought to draw his attention to the unabated attacks on mediapersons, not only in Uttar Pradesh but also on other parts of the country.
Rajnath expressed deep concern on last week’s violent attack on media personnel belonging to the lucknow edition of Hindustan Times group, the attack on a Dainik Jagran scribe in Shamli as well as the killing of Shahjahanpur based journalist Jagendra singh who was set ablaze alive. “I will have a word with the PIB director general and take his suggestions to work out a concrete plan in the larger interest of safety and security of media persons”, Singh assured the delegation. He also agreed to consider the delegation’s demand for constitution of a permanent cell or panel to oversee and monitor various aspects of safety of media persons.
Press Council of India member Suman Gupta , who was also a part of the delegation informed the minister that the Council too had set up a Journalists Safety Cell and also expressed the need for enacting a special law for safety and security of journalists. The minister assured that he would also consider the Press Council’s recommendations.