Lahore - Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said on Sunday India sabotaged talks scheduled between the national security advisers of Pakistan and India owing to their ‘fanatic approach’.
“Pakistan was serious for holding the talks which were the best way for resolving problems but the preconditions put by India were not acceptable to us,” the defence minister said.
Modi-led government’s negative attitude would disrupt peace in the region, Radio Pakistan reported the Asif as saying.
Pakistan’s armed forces were capable of defending frontiers and sovereignty of the country, the defence minister said, adding Pakistan Army was successfully eliminating terrorists from the region. He said Indian forces were constantly violating the Line of Control and Working Boundary to preoccupy the army.
Referring to a press conference held by the Indian Minister for External Affairs Sushma Sawaraj, Pakistan foreign office said Saturday night that NSA level “talks will not serve any purpose if conducted on the basis of the two conditions laid down by India.”
Sushma had issued an ultimatum to Pakistan, giving it until (Saturday) midnight to agree to restrict high-level bilateral talks to militancy alone. Pakistan has to offer twin assurances without which the talks (scheduled for today) in New Delhi will not be held, she added.
Kashmir cannot be part of the agenda; nor can Sartaj Aziz, the Pakistani National Security Adviser (NSA) meet Kashmiri leaders in Delhi, the minister said, reasserting that India will not accept a “third party” to the talks. Asked what would happen if Pakistan did not agree to India’s demands regarding the agenda of the talks, Swaraj replied: Then talks won’t happen.
Pakistan insists that Kashmir dispute is the core issue in the bilateral relations and any talks without putting this issue on table would be meaningless.
It also says that Kashmiris are stakeholders and consulting APHC leaders, who are true voice of the Kashmiri people, is a must for any Pak-India engagement.
“While the Indian (external affairs) minister accepts that, to ensure durable peace..., there is a need to discuss all outstanding issues..., she then unilaterally restricts the agenda to only two items: creating an atmosphere free from terrorism and tranquillity on the Line of Control (LoC),” Pakistani Foreign Office statement said, adding that they had carefully analysed the contents of Sushma’s press conference.
Considering that many terror “incidents” blamed initially by India on Pakistan eventually turned out to be fake, it was not improbable that India can delay the resumed dialogue indefinitely by concocting one or two incidents and keeping the LoC hot, the statement said.