Given the charged-up atmosphere in India and Pakistan before the talks between their national security advisors (NSA), which reached its peak with Pakistan NSA Sartaj Aziz's media briefing followed by a similar one from India's External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, it would have required extraordinary diplomatic skills for the talks to go ahead. It is no wonder that the talks were called off.
Among the ground rules set by Swaraj for such talks was that the Pakistan NSA refrain from engaging with separatists, including hardline Hurriyat leaders from Jammu and Kashmir, before the talks. According to Swaraj, such an engagement would violate the Shimla Agreement, which does not envisage 'third party' intervention in resolving the Kashmir issue. This condition was rejected by the intransigent Pakistani establishment, which also disagreed on the ambit of the talks.
Whether merely engaging with separatists, with hardly any support from the Indian state, would amount to 'third party' intervention is debatable. Had Pakistan demanded that the talks be tripartite, with separatists sitting across the table, India would have been totally justified in rejecting such an outrageous demand.
In the present situation, the only gainers have been the separatists, who got high-decibel publicity. Once the heat and dust over the much-hyped NSA-level talks settle down, India and Pakistan should introspect where do they go from here.
S K Choudhury Bengaluru
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