India to raise terror attacks, LoC firing during NSA-level talks with Pakistan
New Delhi/Islamabad: The national security advisers of India and Pakistan will meet in New Delhi August 23 to discuss terrorism-related issues, with Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif’s foreign affairs adviser Sartaj Aziz confirming he will be in India on August 23 for talks. Islamabad said it was an “ice-breaking” move, but New Delhi said Thursday it was yet to get a “confirmation” from Islamabad.
The Narendra Modi government is preparing a detailed list of fugitives living in Pakistan to be shared at the NSA-level talks. Pakistan’s refuge to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, the demand for a speedy trial of suspects in the 26/11 Mumbai attacks and a Pakistani terrorist’s capture in Udhampur are among the key issues to be raised by India at the talks.
“Yes, I can confirm I will be going to India on (August) 23 for talks,” Mr Aziz told reporters in Islamabad. “It is not a breakthrough in terms of composite dialogue... but at least it is ice-breaking on some issues.”
The recent terror attack in Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir, cross-border firing, infiltration from across the border and presence of militants’ camps in Pakistan will also be on the table as the government is preparing a detailed dossier for the high-level meeting to be held on August 23.
Mr Aziz told reporters in Islamabad: “Our Prime Minister has always believed in dialogue. It was India, which suspended the meeting, which was scheduled between the two Foreign Secretaries on August 25 last year. And then at India’s request the two Prime Minister’s met in Ufa, Russia, on 10th July and they agreed that the two NSAs will meet in Delhi.”
The announcement on Thursday by Mr Aziz came after considerable dilly-dallying by Pakistan, generating speculation that the Pakistan Army was lukewarm towards the talks on account of the border tensions. There were indications that the decision ultimately from the Pakistan side for the Aziz-Doval meeting was taken after the final nod by Sharif, who returned last night from his three-day visit to Belarus.
“On NSA talks, we have no confirmation (from Pakistan so far),” MEA spokesman Vikas Swarup told reporters in New Delhi.
National security adviser Ajit Doval on Thursday held a meeting with home secretary L.C. Goyal, foreign secretary S Jaishankar, defence secretary G. Mohan Kumar and top security officials where they discussed the issues to be raised before his Pakistani counterpart Sartaj Aziz, sources said.
India is expected to give evidence that the three terrorists who carried out the attack in Gurdaspur in Punjab last month came from Pakistan and that Mohammed Naved Yakub, caught alive and arrested in Udhampur in J&K recently after an ambush on a BSF convoy, is a Pakistani national.
The NDA government is also preparing a detailed list of fugitives residing in Pakistan — to be shared during the NSA-level talks — which will have the precise details like addresses of the fugitives in Pakistan rather than just mentioning “residing in Pakistan”. Besides the evidence on Pakistan’s involvement in Gurdaspur attack, the disclosures made by the captured Laskhar terrorist of Pakistan’s direct involvement in the recent attack on the BSF convoy will be taken up by New Delhi. NIA chief Sharad Kumar has personally interrogated Naved who has made stunning disclosures of how he had infiltrated two months back and had undergone training in camps in Muzaffarabad. New Delhi has already got clinching evidence to prove that Naved is a Pakistani national.
India is expecting that Pakistan will rake up the issue of the Samjhauta Express train blast probe to get itself off the hook. Islamabad had earlier been pitting the Samjhauta blast investigation against the 26/11 attacks, and under a fresh strategy it is now expected to counter India’s disclosures of Pakistani national Naved executing the recent terrorist strike by raking up the 2007 Samjhauta blast investigation once again. Recently, the NIA had said that it had no proof against Aseemanand, an accused in the Samjhauta case, to challenge his bail petition.
Mr Doval is likely to press for handing over of Dawood, a key accused in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, expeditious and comprehensive trial of 26/11 case to ensure that LeT founder Hafiz Saeed and outfit’s operations commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi could be punished, sources said.
After the meeting earlier between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif in Ufa last month, India had proposed August 23-24 for the meeting between national security adviser Ajit Doval and Mr Aziz in New Delhi.
Last week, Mr Aziz had said that Pakistan is preparing the agenda for talks. He had said Pakistan wanted a constructive, sustained, unconditional and result-oriented dialogue with India on all issues of mutual concern including the “core issue” of Kashmir. A Pakistani Foreign Office official had said Pakistan is aware of India’s agenda to highlight the issue of terrorism and planning is being done to counter it.
