Pakistan rejects India ‘preconditions’ for talks

Accusing Pakistan of deviating from the agenda for talks set during the meeting of the Indian and Paksitani prime ministers in Ufa in July, Union home minister Rajnath Singh said here on Sunday that the cancellation National Security Advisor-level parleys was really unfortunate. The agenda must have been decided before the talks.

“We have come to the conclusion that the proposed NSA level talks between the two countries would not serve any goal, if conducted on the basis of the two conditions laid down by the minister”, it said in a statement.

Indian external affairs ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted: “Pakistan’s decision is unfortunate”.

It also pointed out that it was equally important to recall that terrorism was always a part of the eight-point composite dialogue and it was always discussed simultaneously with other issues between the Interior Secretaries.

He has been the subject of umpteen animated TV discussions on India-Pakistan relations after the formation of the Modi government a year ago.

In Ufa, the two countries had also agreed that heads of border guards – BSF and Pakistan Rangers – would meet soon to discuss how to bring peace on the border.

New Delhi had given Islamabad until midnight to agree to restrict the talks between the arch-rivals to militancy alone after a row over Pakistan’s plan to meet with Kashmiri separatist leaders and desire to broaden the scope of the talks.

On 19 August, Pakistan Rangers resorted to three rounds of firing on a BoP along IB in Samba sector at around 10.30 pm without any casualty or injury to anyone.

Anwar added, “People were looking forward to it as high level talks were about to take place“.