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On Saturday, diplomats of India and Pakistan compensated for the on-field failures of their respective cricket teams in delivering a nail biting last over finish to a bilateral cricket match in recent times. With barely 24-hours left before their respective National Security Advisors (NSAs) sit down for a dialogue in New Delhi, the two governments kept alive the uncertainty over the future of the talks agreed upon by Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Nawaz Sharif a bit over a month back in Ufa, Russia, on July 10.
However, beyond the New Delhi-Islamabad shadow boxing, there were hints that indicated the talks could still take place. Although, neither side was willing to confirm it officially that the talks were on track. That the two neighbours might bypass the contentious issue of Hurriyat leaders meeting with the visiting NSA of Pakistan Sartaj Aziz seemed likely when Delhi Police detained Kashmiri separatist leader Shabbir Ahmed Shah at the Delhi airport. Shah had landed from Sringar with the express purpose of attending the Sunday evening reception that the High Commissioner of Pakistan Abdul Basit is hosting in honour of Aziz.
New Delhi does not want Pakistan's NSA to meet Hurriyat leaders before the talks, whether at a reception or otherwise. Aziz is scheduled to reach Delhi on Sunday and hold talks with his Indian counterpart Ajit Kumar Doval on Monday. Some other Hurriyat leaders like Syed Ahmed Shah Geelani are either under house arrest or are likely to be similarly detained if they attempt to travel to Delhi to meet Aziz before the talks, sources said. This leaves a door open for Aziz to travel to Delhi, even attend the reception but be unable to meet Hurriyat leaders at least until the talks are over.
Aziz said in Islamabad in the afternoon that New Delhi was wrong in putting preconditions that he cannot meet Kashmiri separatist leaders. He said the Kashmir problem was the centerpiece of India-Pakistan dispute, and that the Ufa agreement mentioned it as such in the phrase "outstanding issues". A couple of hours later, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj responded that Aziz was welcome but only if the agenda of the talks was terror, and only that, as was decided in Ufa. Hurriyat cannot be the third party in India-Pakistan dialogue, she said.
The rigmarole of media conferences, however, brought little official clarity on whether Aziz was to fly to Delhi on Sunday or not. Both sides put the onus on the other for calling off the talks. Both also announced they had prepared copious dossiers about how each was exporting terror or fomenting trouble in the territory of the other and seemed keen that the other should call off the talks.
"Cancellation (of the talks) is yet to be confirmed from either side. Therefore, we are ready to as per schedule without any pre-condition," Aziz said. Swaraj responded that she was not putting any preconditions but Kashmir was not part of the agenda at least for the NSA level meetings. She said that as decided in Ufa the heads of the Border Security Force of India and Pakistan Rangers as well as the respective Director Generals of Military Operations (DGMOs) were to meet as per schedule in September.
In India, media reported on latest photographs, air travel and phone bills of Dawood Ibrahim, wanted in India for his role in the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts, as more evidence that he was living in Karachi.
Late evening, Pakistan Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid said his country will go ahead with the talks unless India refused to host the meeting. "Sartaj Aziz will go to India if he was not stopped by India from visiting," Rashid told Geo TV of Pakistan, adding that Aziz's "travel bag, file work and ticket" were ready. Rashid said Kashmiri leaders will not attend the talks between the two countries as they were only invited for a reception, but said like India, Pakistan also had the right to talk about issues of its concern.
