Pakistan calls off NSA-level talks

Pakistan said  talks cannot be held on the basis of the 'preconditions set by India'. 

In a statement, issued on Saturday, Pakistan's Minister of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) said: "Pakistan, therefore, reiterates that the scheduled NSA level talks cannot be held on the basis of the preconditions set by India. "

"Pakistan has carefully analyzed the contents of the Press Conference of the Indian Minister for External Affairs, Mrs. Sushma Sawaraj this afternoon. We have come to the conclusion that the proposed NSA level talks between the two countries would not serve any purpose, if conducted on the basis of the two conditions laid down by the Minister," the Ministry said.

The Ministry said: "While the Indian Minister accepts that, to ensure durable peace between the two countries, there is a need to discuss all outstanding issues through a sustained dialogue process, started in 1998 as Composite Dialogue and renamed as Resumed Dialogue in 2011, she then unilaterally restricts the agenda to only two items: creating an atmosphere free from terrorism and tranquility on the LoC. Considering that many terror "incidents" blamed initially by India on Pakistan eventually turned out to be fake, it is not improbable that India can delay the Resumed Dialogue indefinitely by concocting one or two incidents and keeping the LoC hot."

"It is equally important to recall that terrorism was always a part of the eight point composite dialogue and it was always discussed simultaneously with other issues between the Interior Secretaries. It is not reasonable for India to now assume the right to decide unilaterally that from now onwards, other issues will be discussed after terrorism has been discussed and eliminated," it said.

"The main purpose of any dialogue between India and Pakistan is to reduce tensions and restore trust as a first step towards normalization. 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. That is why Pakistan had suggested that apart from discussion on terrorism related issues, the two sides should also discuss modalities and if possible a time schedule, for discussions on all outstanding issues including Kashmir, Siachen and Sir Creek, in keeping with the understanding of the Ufa statement. That is the only way to improve the prospects for peace between the two countries," the MoFA said.

"The EAM's attempt to draw a distinction between preambular and operative paragraphs in the Ufa statement appears to be an after-thought to justify a position that is counterproductive in terms of the ultimate objective of reducing tensions and improving trust. As regards the second pre-condition regarding meeting with Hurriyat leaders, it has been pointed out repeatedly that it has been a long-standing practice that whenever Pakistani leaders visited India during the past twenty years, they have been meeting Hurriyet leaders. It would be inappropriate for India to now impose the condition of changing this longstanding practice," it said.

Hours after Islamabad earlier in the day cleared that it was ready to take  part in the NSA-level talks without any pre-conditions, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj welcomed Pakistani National Security Advisor Sartaz Aziz to New Delhi with a rider that "Hurriyat or any third party" will be involved.

"If they are willing to come, we welcome them but we want assurance from Pakistan that talks will only be on terror and the NSA will not meet the Hurriyat," Swaraj told a press conference.

Two-and-a-half hours before, Aziz met the media in Islamabad and accused India of failing to recognise Kashmir as the most outstanding issue, while insisting that "K-word" was very much there on the Ufa statement issued following a meeting between the Prime Ministers of the two countries last month.

But refuting Pakistan's claim, Swaraj said in Ufa,  there was no discussion on the composite or 'Resumed Dialogues' which can take up multiple related issues for discussions.

"Quoting Mr Aziz, all outstanding issues including Jammu and Kahmir, was a part of the 'Composite Dialogue', now a part of the 'Resumed Dialogue'. This was not taken up during the Ufa meeting," she said.

On Thursday morning, three Kashmiri separatists were placed under house arrest in Srinagar but were released within two hours.

The separatists, Yasin Malik, Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umer Farooq, have been invited to a reception in Delhi for Pakistan National Security Adviser Sartaj Aziz,.

India called off talks last July after Pakistan consulted Kashmiri separatists before a meeting of Foreign Secretaries.

However, the thaw was broken a year later when  Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistani premier Nawaz Sharif met on the sidelines of a conference in Ufa, Russia, and agreed to restart dialogues.