NSA talks with Pak finally off, India says unfortunate

New Delhi After going through several nowon nowoff moments the NSA talks between India and Pakistan were finally called off on Saturday with both sides sticking to their positionsIn a late night statement the Pakistan Foreign Office said it has come to the conclusion that the NSA talks would not serve any purpose if conducted on the basis of the two conditions laid down by India a clear signal calling off the talks In reply Indias external affairs ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted Pakistans decision is unfortunate India did not set any preconditionsWe only reiterated that Pakistan respect the spirit of the Simla amp Ufa Agreements to which it was already committed he said Pakistans statement came in response to Indias External Affairs Minister Sushma Swarajs press conference in which she said Pakistani National Security Advisor Sartaj Aziz was welcome to come to India for talks with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval but Islamabad must abide by the agenda agreed to at Ufa and only discuss terrorismAziz who was slated to travel to India on Sunday for the talks addressing a press conference earlier in Islamabad said he was willing to come for the talks but Kashmir would be on the table and he would also speak with the Kashmiri separatists The Pakistan Foreign Office said in a statement at night that talks held on the two conditions laid down by Sushma Swaraj would not serve any purposeIt accused the Indian minister of restricting the agenda of the talks to only two items creating an atmosphere free from terrorism and tranquillity on the Line of Control On Azizs planned meeting with Hurriyat leaders ahead of meeting Doval on Sunday the Pakistan Foreign Office said meeting the separatists has been a longstanding practice and that it would be inappropriate for India to now impose the condition of changing this longstanding practicePakistan therefore reiterates that the scheduled NSA level talks cannot be held on the basis of the preconditions set by India Sushma Swaraj in her press conference said Aziz has to remain within the agenda agreed to at Ufa Russia on July 10 between both their prime ministers She said the mandate for the NSA talks was to discuss terrorismrelated issues and there was no space for the Hurriyat in talks as per the Simla Agreement inked between both countriesShe gave Pakistan till Saturday midnight to give its answer on what it proposed to do Pakistan is saying that Kashmir is the core issue but that was not said at Ufa In Ufa it was decided that all outstanding issues including Kashmir but first let us discuss terrorism and violence she said The NSAs will talk on all issues relating to terrorism Aziz said that he is waiting for my press conference I am answering please keep to the Simla and Ufa agreements signed by both our countriesAs per the Simla agreement spirit there can be no third party in talks and the Hurriyat cannot be included As per the Ufa spirit dont increase the agenda And do come you are welcome Sushma Swaraj denied that India was laying any preconditions for the NSA talks as alleged by Pakistan and said if Pakistan sticks to its stand of raking up Kashmir at the NSA parley and Aziz meets the Hurriyat Toh baatchit nahin hogi then there will be no talksShe said that as per the operative part of the Ufa agreement there will be three meetings between the NSAs to discuss terrorism talks between the directors general of the BSF and Pakistani Rangers and between the DGMOs Sushma Swaraj also said Pakistan was running away from the talks as India has caught a Pakistani terrorist alive after the Udhampur attackEarlier Aziz in his press conference in Islamabad said I am still ready to go to New Delhi to hold NSA talks without any preconditions The atmosphere for the talks soured over the Pakistan High Commission in India inviting the Jammu and Kashmir separatist leaders to meet Aziz ahead of the NSA talks on August 2324 Aziz maintained that the core issue of Kashmir would be on the agenda of talksTo a query he said No serious talks with India are possible without discussion on the core issue of Kashmir Aziz said the Pakistan High Commission had invited the separatist leaders to enable him to meet a crosssection of leaders India said this was unacceptable Hours before Aziz spoke in Islamabad Kashmiri separatist leader Shabir Shah was detained in New Delhi when he flew in from Srinagar to meet the Pakistani NSA if he arrives as scheduledAziz said they have prepared three dossiers on alleged activities of Indias Research and Analysis Wing RAW on Pakistani soil If I dont get an opportunity to hand over the dossiers to Doval in New Delhi I hope to give it to him in New York next month if he comes with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi he said adding that he would hand them over to UN Secretary General Ban Kimoon