India is unlikely to call off the National Security Advisor (NSA)-level talks with Pakistan after Islamabad indicated it would accommodate New Delhi’s concerns on Pakistan NSA Sartaj Aziz meeting with Kashmiri separatist leaders such as Syed Ali Shah Geelani.
The talks between Aziz and India’s NSA Ajit Kumar Doval are scheduled for Sunday. Delhi had told Islamabad no such meeting between Aziz and Hurriyat leaders could take place ahead of the talks, on Sunday.
The Pakistan High Commission here has invited Hurriyat leaders Geelani and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq to meet Aziz at a reception to be attended by a “select gathering”, and not for exclusive consultations, on Sunday.
According to sources, both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh are on board with the government’s decision.
The RSS is of the view that India should convey to the international community that it is still willing to hold talks with its western neighbour despite the provocations from Pakistan, including ceasefire violations across the Line of Control in Kashmir and export of terrorism to India. Moreover, the NSA level talks, agreed upon between Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Nawaz Sharif in Ufa in Russia on July 10, will focus on the issue of terrorism and not Kashmir. The separatist leaders meeting Aziz after the talks begin will also underscore that they weren’t setting or influencing the agenda for the talks.
Last year, New Delhi had cancelled the Foreign Secretary level talks when the Pakistani High Commissioner had invited Hurriyat leaders for “consultations” on the eve of the talks. In July, the High Commission had cancelled an Iftar it was planning to host for the Hurriyat leaders in view of Modi-Sharif meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit in Ufa.
According to government sources, India will hand over to Pakistan a list of 60 fugitives, including Dawood Ibrahim and Tiger Memon, who have taken shelter in that country.
The list could include latest photographs of Dawood Ibrahim. He is wanted by India in connection with the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts.
India believes it has ample evidence, including some new photographs, of Ibrahim living in Karachi. New Delhi will also give Pakistan evidence that the three terrorists who carried out attacks in Gurdaspur and the two terrorists who struck in Udhampur, one of whom was caught alive, had sneaked in from across the border for the attacks.
NSA Doval on Wednesday met Home Minister Rajnath Singh. In a related development, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asked India and Pakistan to exercise “maximum restraint” in the wake of increased tensions along the Line of Control and hoped that talks between the National Security Advisors of both sides will result in a “positive outcome.”
