Aug 25 Secy-level talks called off; New Delhi raps Pak for interfering in India’s internal affairs after Basit meets Shabir Shah
Irked by the meeting between Pakistani High Commissioner Abdul Basit and Kashmiri separatist leader Shabir Shah in New Delhi on Monday, India called off the Foreign Secretary-level talks with Pakistan. The talks, scheduled for August 25, were going to be the first diplomatic contact between the two countries after the new Government took over in India.
India termed Basit’s meeting with separatist leader Shabir Shah in New Delhi as Pakistan’s interference in India’s internal affairs. The moment Shah stepped out of Pakistan Embassy, Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh conveyed clearly to Basit that this was “not acceptable” to India and under present circumstances no useful purpose will be served by holding talks with her Pakistani counterpart Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry.
Basit was to hold similar meetings with other separatists on Tuesday. India has made it clear on several occasions that it would not like parallel channels to work between India and Pakistan.
“The Indian Foreign Secretary conveyed to the Pakistan High Commissioner, in clear and unambiguous terms, that Pakistan’s continued efforts to interfere in India’s internal affairs were unacceptable,” Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin announced. The cancellation of meeting pushes back the new India-Pakistan bonhomie to the cold storage once again.
Sujatha Singh was to meet Chaudhry in Islamabad next Monday to discuss ways to move forward on bilateral ties interrupted since last two years. Prime Minister
Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Sharif had a “constructive” 45-minute one-on-one meeting in May during which they discussed several points and agreed that both Foreign Secretaries will work on it to take forward the talks.
“At a time when serious initiatives were being undertaken by the Government of India to move bilateral ties forward, including towards the resumption of a regular dialogue process, the invitation to so-called leaders of the Hurriyat by Pakistan’s High Commissioner does indeed raise questions about Pakistan’s sincerity, and shows that its negative approaches and attempts to interfere in India’s internal affairs continue unabated,” Akbaruddin said.
“It was underlined that the Pakistani High Commissioner’s meetings with these so-called leaders of the Hurriyat undermines the constructive diplomatic engagement initiated by Prime Minister Modi in May on his very first day in office. The only path available to Pakistan is to resolve outstanding issues through a peaceful bilateral dialogue within the framework and principles of the Simla Agreement and the lahore Declaration. Therefore, under the present circumstances, it is felt that no useful purpose will be served by the Indian Foreign Secretary going to Islamabad next week. Foreign Secretary’s visit to Islamabad for talks on 25 August stands cancelled,” said Akbaruddin.
Pakistan has maintained that Kashmir remains at the core issue between the two countries. Exactly a month back while interacting with reporters in New Delhi, Basit had said that Jammu & Kashmir is the genesis of all disputes between India and Pakistan and both sides have to resolve it.
India has always protested against Pakistan government’s policy of engaging Kahmiri hardliners, which often comes before an important India-Pakistan meeting. A similar meeting that took place during the visit of former Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar to India in 2011 was also strongly protested by India. In fact, last month also, several separatists met Basit during an Iftar party hosted by him in New Delhi.
Basit met Kashmir separatist leader Shabir Shah over a luncheon meeting on Monday. Shah said such meetings are held on a routine basis. “This has unnecessarily been made an issue. We go on a routine basis. Earlier also we have been meeting with the Pakistan PM, but questions are being raised this time only,” said Shah.
“I understand there is a Kashmir issue, but this is our issue, so who else will be consulted. It is the beginning, so the political parties shouldn’t make an issue out of it. If Nawaz Sharif has shown a positive response, so Narendra Modi too should ask political parties to not make an issue out of it,” Shah added.
In Srinagar, before leaving for New Delhi to meet Basit, All Parties Hurriyat Conference (M) chief Mirwaiz Umar Farooq said: “Our focus is on the fact that Kashmir is a political problem. Hurriyat wants to contribute politically in terms of finding a solution to the Kashmir problem. We believe that India and Pakistan have to do the talking. They have to initiate a series of initiatives and steps in order to build the momentum to address the trust deficit. In that context, our meeting should be perceived as a positive thing. I do not see why every time the Hurriyat is in Delhi, it becomes an issue and a cause of concern. We want to be a bridge of friendship between the two countries, but for that we have always maintained that New Delhi and Islamabad will have to engage with the leadership of Kashmir.”
The cancellation of Foreign Secretary-level talks comes amid pressure from various political parties which have questioned new government’s foreign policy vis-à-vis Pakistan in the wake of spike in ceasefire violations on line of Control in J&K. There have been 10 ceasefire violations in last 9 days. In fact, Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh had conveyed to her Pakistani counterpart Choudhary over telephone that meaningful cooperation between the two countries cannot take place alongside violence and the sound of bullets on the border.