US expresses disappointment over cancellation of Pakistan-India talks

Noting that “extraneous” issues are being used to throw spanner in the process of talks, he said that the exercise is being exploited by those who influence border issues in Pakistan against India.

Cross-border shelling in Kashmir this month has killed several civilians on both sides.

On Saturday, Pakistan said it could not accept India’s “preconditions” for the talks due to take place in New Delhi.

New Delhi has for years accused Pakistan of backing separatist Muslim rebels in India’s part of Kashmir.

“Any decision on their future can not be made without their opinion and consultation”, Sharif said during a cabinet meeting yesterday.

On the other hand, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Yashwant Sinha said India should not engage with Pakistan till it was “absolutely certain” about the outcome.

Pakistan earlier said it was never expecting the talks to lead to any breakthrough and the objective was only to reduce tensions between the neighbours.

Sartaj Aziz, adviser to Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif on security and foreign affairs, was to hold talks with national security adviser Ajit Doval on Monday. Government officials are likely to brief her about Pakistan Rangers’ and Army’s repeated ceasefire violations along the Line of Control as well as the undisputed stretch of the border. Kirby said that the Obama administration had been looking forward to seeing some positive outcomes emerging from the interaction between the Indian and Pakistani national security advisors.

The leaders agreed then that their top security officials would meet to “discuss all issues connected to terrorism“, in a resumption of talks between their officials.

In India, the Deccan Herald said Delhi mishandled and messed up the talks plan with unreasonable demands.

Aziz added that the cancellation of the talks was not confirmed and Pakistan was prepared to go ahead as per schedule but without pre-conditions.

There was high drama, often low on theatrics, for 40 hours as Indian intelligence agencies leaked details of the presence of 1993 Mumbai blast mastermind Dawood Ibrahim in Karachi and Aziz saying he would confront India with three dossier on India’s external agency RAW’s role in terrorism in Pakistan.

From Lalit K Jha Washington, August 25 (PTI) The US has categorically ruled out any role for itself in the revival of Indo-Pak talks, saying it is for the leaders of the two countries to decide on the pace and scope of the peace talks.

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