No room for talks, says India after Pak envoy meets separatist leaders
New Delhi: Acting tough, India on Monday called off Foreign Secretary-level talks with Pakistan next week and conveyed a blunt message that it was interfering in India's internal affairs by holding talks with Kashmiri separatists which was "unacceptable".
Upset that despite being firmly told by Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh that Pakistan has to choose between "India or separatists" for talks, its top envoy here went ahead with the meeting, India said, "Therefore, under the present circumstances,...no useful purpose will be served by the Indian Foreign Secretary going to Islamabad next week." "Indian Foreign Secretary had conveyed to the Pakistan High Commissioner (Abdul Basit) today, in clear and unambiguous terms, that Pakistan's continued efforts to interfere in India’s internal affairs were unacceptable.
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— Manish Tewari (@ManishTewari) August 17, 2014"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," Spokesperson in the External Affairs Ministry Syed Akbaruddin told PTI.
Singh was to travel to Islamabad on August 25 to hold talks with her Pakistani counterpart Aizaz Chaudhry, nearly two years after the Indo-Pak talks were stalled due to incidents along the LoC.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had raised hopes of reviving peace talks with Pakistan when he invited Nawaz Sharif during his historic swearing-in ceremony. However, incidents of ceasefire violations have been increasing along the border.
There have been close to 11 ceasefire violations by Pakistani troops along LoC and IB in Jammu region during the past 10 days and the 12th in August this year.
Our Foreign Secy conveyed to Pak High Comm that Pak’s continued efforts to interfere in Indian internal affairs are unacceptable: MEA
— ANI (@ANI_news) August 18, 2014Modi, who was on a visit to Jammu and Kashmir had recently slammed Pakistan saying that “Pakistan has lost the strength to fight a conventional war, but continues to engage in the proxy war of terrorism.”
Pak High Commissioner's meeting with so called Hurriyat leaders undermined the constructive diplomatic arrangements made by PM Modi : MEA
— ANI (@ANI_news) August 18, 2014We said that during upcoming meet of Foreign Secys,apart from other issues Kashmir must be discussed: Shabir Shah,Kashmiri Separatist Leader
— ANI (@ANI_news) August 18, 2014