New Delhi: India will go by the letter and spirit of the statement issued jointly by it and Pakistan at Ufa and the remarks by Pakistan NSA Sartaj Aziz will not affect the path of engagement agreed to by the two leader, indicated the Centre.
Downplaying Mr Aziz’s comment that there would be no Indo-Pak talks without Kashmir being on the agenda, MHA sources said Aziz did not say anything which affected the “actionable propositions” agreed upon during talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Ufa last week.
With the same spirit, India is also not considering the Pakistan High Commissioner’s invite for the Eid Milan to the Hurriyat leaders to be a damper on the grounds that it is merely an invitation to a group of people on the festive occasion of Eid.
After Mr Modi and Mr Sharif had decided at Ufa that the two countries would “discuss all outstanding issues”, “cooperate” to eliminate terrorism from south Asia and find ways “to expedite the trial of the Mumbai attack case”, Pakistan had done a ‘volte-face’ on Monday, with Mr Sartaj Aziz saying no dialogue process would take place with India unless the Kashmir issue is not included in it.
Sources said Mr Aziz had made the statement ostensibly for the domestic audience and called it a “kind of a mix and match exercise”. “The fact that he (Aziz) is offering additional comments obviously speaks of a certain situation there,” sources said, adding no one should “pre-judge” possible outcome of a process which is yet to start.
Sources said that in Ufa, there was a “fair amount of discussion on the Lakhvi case” between both the Prime Ministers and that there were also “substantial discussions” on the border situation. Sources said that India was looking forward to the implementation of the decisions.
Centre: Will hit back
The Army will give a “befitting” reply to Pakistan in case of violation of ceasefire, Union home minister Rajnath Singh said on Tuesday. “Our Army will give a befitting reply to Pakistan if that country violates ceasefire... Kashmir is an integral part of India,” Mr Singh said.
Asked about the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in Russia and the decision of the Pakistani authorities not to petition in court for 26/11 mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi’s voice sample, Mr Singh said, “Modiji ne haath nahi failaya tha lekin unkadono desh mein dostika prayatna tha (Modi did not plead but had only tried to foster friendly relations between the two countries).”
On ‘Vyapam’ scam in Madhya Pradesh, Mr Singh accused the opposition of “maligning” the image of the BJP government. “Opposition parties are maligning our image. Madhya Pradesh government, led by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is transparent and it was Mr Chouhan who had written a letter to the Supreme Court seeking a CBI probe into the scam,” Mr Singh said.
