AMN /
India has described the cancellation of the Indo-Pak National Security Advisor level talks by Pakistan as unfortunate. In his tweets, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said, India only reiterated that Islamabad respect the spirit of the Shimla and Ufa agreements to which it is already committed. He said India did not set any preconditions for the talks.
Earlier, Pakistan called off the NSA level talks with India. A statement issued by Pakistan Foreign Ministry said, the proposed talks will not serve any purpose if conducted on the basis of what it called two conditions laid down by India.
Earlier, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had made it clear that there were no pre-conditions set by India for the talks. Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Ms Swaraj said, Advisor to the Pakistan Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs and National Security, Sartaj Aziz was welcome in New Delhi if Pakistan could give an assurance by midnight last night that talks would be confined only to terror. She said, there will be no third party in the talks and only terrorism will be discussed as agreed to by the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan at Ufa in Russia. She also said there was no reference to Kashmir in the Ufa declaration.
The Minister said, she was only invoking the Shimla spirit under which the two countries are committed to resolving issues bilaterally. She said, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif had agreed at Ufa that the NSAs would meet only to discuss terror.
Ms Swaraj said, despite 91 cases of ceasefire violations by Pakistan after Ufa declaration, India wanted to go ahead with talks so that issue of terrorism could be discussed. The National Security Advisor level talks between India and Pakistan were scheduled to be held in New Delhi today and tomorrow.
The US has said that it is disappointed that the proposed talks between the National Security Advisors of India and Pakistan has been called off. State Department spokesman John Kirby said, Washington encourages India and Pakistan to resume formal dialogue soon.
Congress has alleged that the cancellation of NSA-level talks between India with Pakistan reflects Modi government’s foreign policy failure. Party’s chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said last night that India awaits a decisive and cohesive enunciation of a mature foreign policy that takes care of our strategic concerns, security issues and peaceful bilateral relationship.