After a week of suspense, the National Security Adviser-level talks were finally called off by Pakistan on Saturday night. The talks were cancelled after Pakistan refused to go by the agenda set at Ufa by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif that only terrorism will be discussed by Pakistan’s NSA Sartaj Aziz and his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval during their meeting. Pakistan’s response came late on Saturday night, close to the deadline set by External Affairs Minister (EAM) Sushma Swaraj to say “Yes” or
“No”, to the red lines drawn by her that agenda will focus on terrorism and not Kashmir, and there will be no meeting between Aziz and Hurriyat leaders prior to talks.
India described Pakistan’s decision as “unfortunate” and said it had not set any precondition for holding the talks. “Pakistan’s decision is unfortunate. India did not set any preconditions. We only reiterated that Pakistan respect the spirit of the Shimla and Ufa Agreements to which it had already committed,” said MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup.
Insisting to discuss “all outstanding issues, including Kashmir” with Doval and holding a meeting with separatists prior to the formal bilateral talks between the two NSAs, Pakistan finally came down to say Sushma’s words indicated Aziz was “not welcome” in India and accused India of running away from the talks. “We have come to the conclusion that the proposed NSA-level talks between the two countries will not serve any purpose if conducted on the basis of the two conditions laid down by the Minister (Sushma). Pakistan reiterates that the scheduled NSA-level talks cannot be held on the basis of the preconditions set by India,” said Pakistan Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement late on Saturday.
“If the only purpose of NSA-level talks is to discuss terrorism, then instead of improving the prospects for peace it will only intensify the blame game and further vitiate the atmosphere…Pakistan, therefore, reiterates that the scheduled NSA-level talks cannot be held on the basis of the preconditions set by India,” the statement said. It also added that there has been a long-standing practice of Pakistani leaders meeting Hurriyat leaders and it would be inappropriate for India to now impose the condition of changing this longstanding practice.
In New Delhi, an official in Pakistan High Commission had another line: “If the host is not ready to receive us then how can we come. India does not want these talks. We believe, India is scared of condemnation it will face when we hand over the dossier of RAW’s involvement in terror attacks in Pakistan. In order to avoid
this international embarrassment, it has run away from the talks,” the Pak official told The Pioneer.
Earlier, Sushma had outright rejected Pakistan’s suggestion to discuss all issues, including Kashmir, and refused to agree that Hurriyat was an important stakeholder in the whole episode. Sushma made it clear that the NSA-level talks were not the forum to discuss “all outstanding issues” because they will be part of “composite dialogue” to be held later.
“This is not resumption of composite dialogue between two countries. This is just a precursor to it,” Sushma said at a Press conference called to respond Aziz’s statements made in Islamabad.
The intention of Pakistan to sabotage the talks was very much visible from Aziz’s statement made in Islamabad on Saturday afternoon where he accused India of having set “pre-conditions” to the talk. Aziz claimed India was running away by limiting talks to terrorism. “India is wrong in saying that Kashmir is not part of agenda. I am still prepared to go to New Delhi for NSA-level talks. I will be carrying three dossiers on India’s RAW activities in Pakistan. If I don’t get opportunity to hand over the dossiers to Indian NSA in New Delhi, I hope to give it to him in New York next month if he comes with PM Narendra Modi,” Aziz said.
To Aziz’s “dossier” threat, Sushma responded sharply: “Dossiers are serious things given in sealed envelopes and not waved in press conferences or handed over casually in corridors. You bring us your dossier and we will give a live human proof of terrorism (Md Naved Yakub caught in Udhampur).”
She clarified India was not setting any pre-conditions but merely following agenda set in Ufa. “If they are willing to come, they are welcome but we want an assurance that talks will only be on terror and the (Pak) NSA will not meet Hurriyat leaders prior to talks,” Sushma said. Pakistan certainly cannot afford any of such assurances given the intense pressure Nawaz Sharif is facing back home for not having “Kashmir” as an issue mentioned in the Ufa joint statement.
The Indian side believes the Pakistan leadership is under tremendous pressure from “well-known forces” in Pakistan to cancel talks. “We too had intense pressure to call off the talks. This pressure increased in the wake of 91 ceasefire violations after Ufa talks, and two terror attacks in Gurdaspur and Udhampur. But we still decided to go ahead because these incidents became more relevant for terror talks. You should also break free from such pressures and come forward,” said Sushma.
The Minister said terrorism and violence was the main issue in front of them and talks in the past have collapsed due to terror attacks on its soil. “Yet, India is hopeful,” Sushma had earlier said and added India would be disappointed if the talks are called off.
“If you take a step of friendship and it does not happen then disappointment is normal. But then if the talks do not take place, it will not be the end of relations. The India-Pak ties are like a road full of potholes. There will be bumps, punctures but you get back on it in some time. There is never a full stop in diplomacy, there are semi colons and commas,” she added.
In the given circumstances, the fate of meetings between DGs of BSF and Pakistan Rangers scheduled for September 6 too is in limbo. Earlier in the day separatist leaders Sajjad lone, Shabir Shah along with two others were detained at the New Delhi airport to prevent them from meeting Aziz prior to the talks.
Breach of promise
o Pakistan’s response came late on Saturday night, close to the deadline set by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj to say “Yes” or “No”, to the red lines drawn by her that agenda will focus on terrorism and not Kashmir, and there will be no meeting between Aziz and Hurriyat leaders prior to talks
o Earlier, Sushma had outright rejected Pakistan’s suggestion to discuss all issues, including Kashmir, and refused to agree that Hurriyat was an important stakeholder in the whole episode. Sushma made it clear that the NSA-level talks were not the forum to discuss “all outstanding issues” because they will be part of “composite dialogue” to be held later
o To Aziz’s “dossier” threat, Sushma responded sharply: “Dossiers are serious things given in sealed envelopes and not waved in press conferences or handed over casually in corridors. You bring us your dossier and we will give a live human proof of terrorism (Md Naved Yakub caught in Udhampur)”