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Pakistan dares India to cancel NSA talks, ‘disturbed Hurriyat leaders arrested’

Will be carrying 3 dossiers on India's involvement in terrorism in Pakistan, says Sartaj Aziz

Islamabad/New Delhi: Putting the onus back on India, an adamant Pakistan on Saturday said it was prepared for NSA-level talks without any pre-conditions amid continuing signs that the meeting was unlikely to take place.

National Security Adviser Sartaj Aziz, who is scheduled to travel to New Delhi tomorrow for talks with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval, told a press conference in Islamabad that he is ready to travel to India as per schedule but without any pre-conditions.

He was sharply critical of the Indian government for its insistence that he should not meet Kashmiri separatist leaders while in New Delhi and said this was akin to controlling the guest list for a reception being held for him at the Pakistan High Commission tomorrow.

Read: Kashmiri separatist leader Shabir Shah detained upon arrival at Delhi airport

"Cancellation (of the talks) is yet to be confirmed from either side. Therefore, we are ready to go as per schedule without any pre-condition," Aziz said.

Given that there is no likelihood of India changing its stand that separatist Hurriyat had no role in Indo-Pak talks, the possibility of NSAs meeting is remote. The Indian position will be clear later this afternoon when External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj meets media at 4 pm in New Delhi.

Aziz termed as nothing "further from the truth" the Indian External Affairs Ministry statement that Pakistan was trying to distort the agenda agreed at Ufa and imposing new conditions for the talks.

"The statement of Indian External ministry that Pakistan has imposed new conditions totally ignores the last sentence in the note handed over to the Indian High Commission that Pakistan is ready to hold NSA-level talks without any pre-conditions," he said while addressing the press conference at the Foreign Office.

Read: India insists NSA-level talks will only be on terrorism

"In fact, it is India that has imposed new conditions that Pakistan cannot meet Hurriyat leaders, assuming the right to determine the guest list of for the High Commissioner's reception," he said.

Both sides have refused to budge from their positions on the agenda of the talks and the invitation to Hurriyat leaders for a meeting with Aziz.

Responding to a question, Aziz said, "Pakistan wishes to resolve all issues with India on the negotiating table, but no serious talks with India are possible without discussion on the core issue of Kashmir."

He said Pakistan has prepared three-point agenda, which included terrorism, progress on decision made at Ufa and discussion on all outstanding issues that includes Kashmir. "Is it conceivable that India would cancel first ministerial meeting on such a flimsy grounds relating to meeting with Hurriyat leaders," he said.

Read: Farooq Abdullah says terrorism most important agenda for NSA talks

In provocative remarks, Aziz said he will be carrying three dossiers on India's RAW activities in Pakistan. "If I don't get opportunity to hand over the dossiers to Indian NSA in New Delhi, I hope to give it to him in New York next month if he comes with PM Narendra Modi" for the UN General Assembly session.

He was asked about reports in the Indian media that Doval will hand over dossiers to Aziz stating that underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, whose presence in Pakistan has been denied by Islamabad, is very much in that country.

Aziz said a major theme being played up in the Indian media was that Pakistan was apprehensive of the dossier Doval would present to him during the NSA talks and was therefore looking for an exit.

"After handing over these dossiers to Mr. Doval, I can then also share them with the UN Secretary General," he said. He refused to share the contents of the dossiers about alleged Indian interference in Pakistan but displayed it to the media.

Aziz said that he did not expect any breakthrough during the talks but he minimum agenda was to reduce tension and set a course for future talks.

Read: No purpose of holding talks sans tangible deliverables, says Congress

Aziz said he was disappointed that India had virtually cancelled the first-ever NSA-level talks and it would be second time New Delhi has gone back from a commitment to hold talks with. India had called off Foreign Secretary-level talks in Islamabad last year, protesting the Pakistan High Commissioner's meeting with Hurriyat leaders in Delhi.

"The reason for this regretful second cancellation if it is happening, would be the same," he said, adding that the invitation to three-four Kashmiri leaders to a reception organized in New Delhi on Sunday was to "enable me to meet a cross section of Indian political and business leaders."

He urged global think tanks and foreign policy experts to ponder over why India wanted to cancel the first ministerial interaction on such "flimsy grounds".

"Even more ironic is their alibi that Pakistan was trying to distort the agenda agreed at Ufa and was imposing ‘new conditions’ for the talks.

Read: Kashmir is a 'contested territory', says US ahead of NSA-level talks

Accusing India of going against the Ufa summit, he said, "everybody knows what is the most important outstanding issue: it is Kashmir?”

Aziz said that Modi government wanted to deal with Pakistan "on his terms" by keeping Kashmir on the backburner, which is not acceptable to Pakistan.

Asked about the detention of Shabir Shah and two other separatist leaders, who are slated to meet Aziz, on their arrival in Delhi, the NSA condemned such action, saying it was violation of their basic rights.

"We are very disturbed about arrest of Hurriyat leaders. It is violation of their fundamental rights," he said.

Read: Omar Abdullah hits out at Centre, J&K govt over NSA-level talks

Aziz said that India was running diplomacy through media and trying to give impression that Pakistan army was not supportive of talks. Rejecting such talk, he said that the entire nation was on the same page.

He said the most important part of the Ufa Statement was that India and Pakistan have a "collective responsibility" to ensure peace and promote development and are prepared to discuss "all outstanding issues" and that the "K word is very there in the Ufa statement".

He said India was making its own interpretations of the Ufa understanding. "Both the countries are bound to hold talks on different issues under the Ufa agreement," he said.

"We had agreed to discuss all outstanding issues and Kashmir is definitely part of it. India feels that terrorism is only Pakistan's issue. Pakistan has already shared evidence of Indian involvement in terrorism with the United Nations," he said.

( Source : PTI )
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