Pak talks on deathbed- Kabaddi, kabaddi… not bilateral dialogue | | Charu Sudan Kasturi | ![]() RBI governor Raghuram Rajan (right) and U Mumba team owner Ronnie Screwvala (centre) watching a Pro Kabaddi semifinal match in Mumbai on Friday. (PTI)
Neither side officially called off the talks, their restraint underlining the reluctance to be viewed as responsible for killing the peace effort by an international community that has nudged them towards a dialogue.
Overnight, India's official invitation to Pakistan national security adviser Sartaj Aziz still stood, as did the formal schedule for him to land in New Delhi on Sunday.
But the South Asian neighbours each spelt out publicly why they could not agree on an agenda for the talks, with India insisting the dialogue only focus on terrorism, and Pakistan equally adamant that Kashmir and "all other outstanding issues" figure.
Diplomats from both countries, speaking on condition of anonymity, accepted there was little point in pursuing the talks.
Each side accused the other of shifting goalposts for the talks, which were agreed to by their Prime Ministers after a meeting last month in Ufa, Russia.
Both nations also chose a tone and tense in their statements that hinted the talks were as good as cancelled - while blaming the other for the impasse and insisting that they remained open to dialogue.
"Unilateral imposition of new conditions and distortion of the agreed agenda (by Pakistan) cannot be the basis for going forward," foreign ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said late this evening in Jaipur, after saying the talks "would have" included a discussion on recent incidents of terrorism from Pakistan like the Udhampur attack.
This message, senior Indian officials told The Telegraph, was also conveyed diplomatically to Pakistan.
Pakistan's foreign office in an official statement just before 11pm hit back at Swarup's comments, accusing India of going back for a "second time" on decisions taken by the Prime Ministers "to engage in a comprehensive dialogue". Pakistan was referring to India's decision last August to call off foreign secretary talks after Pakistan high commissioner Abdul Basit met leaders of the Hurriyat days before.
Earlier, India had obliquely accused the Pakistan army of trying to scuttle the talks -- while appearing understanding of the country's PM Nawaz Sharif.
"The people of both countries can legitimately ask today what is the force that compels Pakistan to disregard the agreements reached by two elected leaders and sabotage their implementation," the foreign ministry said.
The spat had intensified in the morning after the ministry of external affairs made public that it had yesterday "advised" Islamabad to cancel any meeting between Aziz and leaders of the Hurriyat during his two-day visit to India.
Basit had earlier this week invited Kashmiri separatist leaders to the Pakistan mission on Sunday for a meeting with Aziz - re-creating the conditions under which India had called off last year's talks.
Hours after Swarup's morning comments, Pakistan responded - also through a public statement - that it had this afternoon conveyed to the Indian high commissioner in Islamabad, T.C.A. Raghavan, that "it would not be possible for Pakistan to accept this advice".
"Pakistan remains willing to attend the NSAs' meeting without any preconditions," the statement said.
Fundamental differences over what the NSAs will talk about also deepened, with Pakistan today formally proposing that all "outstanding issues, including Kashmir and other disputes, as well as terrorism issues and confidence building measures" figure in a "comprehensive agenda".
India, in a draft agenda with Pakistan on August 18, had made terrorism the sole item for the meet between Aziz and Indian NSA Ajit Doval. The agreement struck between Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Nawaz Sharif in Ufa had chalked out the intent of the meeting between the NSAs as discussing "all concerns related to terrorism".
The failure to arrive at any compromise solution on Aziz's plan to meet Hurriyat leaders effectively leaves India with only two options: either to call off the talks, or to place the separatist leaders under preventive detention.
"We should be willing to place the Hurriyat leaders under house arrest and then let Pakistan take a call on whether it wants to talk with us," the former Indian high commissioner to Pakistan, G. Parthasarathy, had told this paper earlier this week.
But the stark differences in the agenda the two countries want discussed have made any reconciliation near impossible.
The Pakistan foreign office also sharply questioned India's unwillingness to let Aziz meet the Hurriyat leaders, arguing that such meetings have long been the norm whenever a Pakistani politician or diplomat visited India.
"Pakistan sees no reason to depart from this established past practice," the Pakistan foreign office statement said. "The Hurriyat leaders are true representatives of the Kashmiri people of the Indian occupied Kashmir. Pakistan regards them as genuine stakeholders in the efforts to find a lasting solution of the Kashmir dispute."
The sharp exchange followed a failed attempt yesterday to stitch together a compromise that could serve as a face-saver for both nations, while also salvaging the talks.
India and Pakistan had mulled the possibility of carving out a solution under which Aziz could meet the Hurriyat leaders, but only after the NSA talks are over. This would allow India to argue that it had not allowed Pakistan to consult the Hurriyat before the talks. Pakistan, on the other hand, could claim it was keeping the Hurriyat involved in its discussions with India. But today morning, it became evident that any such compromise solution had failed.
In his statement, Swarup had said: "India has advised Pakistan yesterday that it would not be appropriate for Mr. Sartaj Aziz to meet with Hurriyat representatives during his visit to India as it would not be in keeping with the spirit and intent of the Ufa understanding to jointly work to combat terrorism."
The "advice" was delivered personally to Pakistan's foreign office by high commissioner Raghavan. |
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