ISLAMABAD - The United States is playing a role to bring Pakistan and India back on the table after the two nuclear armed neighbours clashed over the jurisdiction of National Security Advisers’ talks that were ultimately called off, official sources said on Sunday.
“Washington is in contact with Islamabad and New Delhi encouraging the dialogue process. The NSA talks (scheduled for August 23-24) have been called off but obviously not forever,” a senior official at the Foreign Ministry told The Nation.
“Pakistan is always ready for talks but India must not attach conditions. This is the only demand we have,” he added.
The US said it was ‘disappointed’ over the cancellation of the scheduled talks between Pakistan and India.
“We are disappointed the talks will not happen this weekend and encourage Pakistan and India to resume the formal dialogue soon,” US State Department spokesperson John Kirby said in Washington.
The spokesperson continued that the ‘constructive interaction’ between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in Ufa, Russia, had been encouraging.
“We were encouraged by the constructive interaction between the leaders of Pakistan and India earlier this year in Ufa, particularly the announcement of dialogue between the countries’ National Security Advisers,” John Kirby said.
The scheduled talks between the National Security Advisers of the two neighbours were called off just hours before Prime Minister’s Adviser on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz was set to fly for New Delhi.
“The US believes Pakistan and India can be on the table soon as the differences (over holding of talks) were negligible and both needed to demonstrate a little flexibility,” the official maintained.
He added, “We have told the US that Sartaj Aziz is ready to fly if India relaxes its position on the meeting with Kashmiri leaders. We have been meeting the Kashmiri leaders in the past and can’t ignore Kashmir.”
Pakistan also blames India for sponsoring terrorism in the country through the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).
Sartaj Aziz had declared that he would discuss the RAW’s terror-links with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval. He was also adamant to table the Kashmir issue.
A couple of weeks earlier, Sartaj Aziz had said Pakistan would take up the issue of RAW’s terrorism-related activities in Pakistan at the United Nations.
He had told the National Assembly that Islamabad had raised the matter of New Delhi’s meddling in Balochistan during the recent talks between Pakistani and Indian foreign secretaries. He said the issue would be taken up in the United Nations General Assembly by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
Meanwhile, India claimed alleged terror-mastermind Dawood Ibrahim was living in Karachi near the Bilawal House, the PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.
The dossier prepared by New Delhi for NSA-level talks – that have been called off - states that as recently as September 2013, Dawood acquired a new residence in Karachi’s Clifton area that is close to the residence of Bilawal Zardari.
The dossier cites the address as Shireen Jinnah Colony, near Ziauddin Hospital, Clifton, Karachi. It is “located near Ziauddin Hospital, where medical treatment could be provided to Dawood Ibrahim whenever required. The place is close to the residence of Bilawal Zardari”, it adds.
Another new residence purchased by Dawood is located at Main Margalla Road F-6/2, House No.7, Islamabad. The last time a dossier on Dawood was shared with Pakistan was during Home Secretary-level talks between the two countries on May 24-25, 2012, in Islamabad.
Commenting on the Indian claims, a Foreign Office official said, “This is propaganda by India. If they have evidences, they must share with us.”
PPP lawmaker Shajahan Baloch, from Karachi, said, “We live here and we have never seen such an activity. I don’t think such a person can live so openly.”
He said that the Sindh government, led by the PPP, does not have any report that Dawood was living near the Bilawal House.
“India is just trying to run away from the dialogue process. This is why they are levelling such baseless allegations. The Sindh government, like the federal government, is clear Dawood is not in Pakistan,” he asserted.