Here are the
reasons:
1.Pakistan ’s NSA
Sartaj Aziz raised the issue of Balochistan.
2.Aziz says Kashmir is most important
issue.
3.He is disturbed by reports of
detention of Hurriyat leaders in Delhi
4.He says objecting to Pakistan ’s proposed meeting with
Hurriyat flimsy excuse to cancel talks
5.Even as he says all this, there is
a cease fire violation in Poonch.
All of the above, directly or
indirectly, are linked to the Kashmir issue.
They are not linked to terrorism, which was and is the subject matter of the
proposed NSA talks. That was what was decided in Ufa .
This is the critical portion of the
joint statement at Ufa on July, 2015:
“….They agreed that
India and Pakistan have a collective
responsibility to ensure peace and promote development. To do so, they are
prepared to discuss all outstanding
issues.
Both leaders condemned terrorism in all its forms and agreed to
cooperate with each other to eliminate this menace from
South Asia .
They also agreed on the following
steps to be taken by the two sides:
1. A meeting in New Delhi between the two
NSAs to discuss all issues connected to
terrorism.
The statement underscores the
importance of Kashmir by agreeing to discuss
“all outstanding issues”. The statement, at the same time, clearly distinguishes
between Kashmir and Terrorism by proposing a
NSA-level meeting only to discuss “all issues connected to terrorism”.
Naturally, Sartaj Aziz mouths another interpretation of the Ufa statement which belies
facts.
Aziz goes a step further displaying
some dossiers which claim to be about RAW’s role in Pakistan . In the same breath he
raises the issue of Balochistan where Pakistan has always been claiming of
RAW’s involvement. The two elements do not connect directly or indirectly to
either Kashmir or Terrorism. He probably raised
them to play on the criticism former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh faced in
India after the India-Pakistan joint statement at Sharm-el-Sheikh in July, 2009
saw the mention of Balochistan.
What else did Sartaj Aziz have to
say about the proposed NSA-level talks? Anything about an update on the Mumbai
attacks? Or about the Usman fellow? Or about any of the terror outfits his
government shelters? Nothing.
The moment Pakistan opens its mouth at a meeting
on terrorism, it will find itself on the defensive. So, it is practical thinking
on its part to not be pushed into such an obvious corner. The proposed talks
were to be specifically on the issue of terrorism, as the Ufa statement shows. So, it
was clear to both India and
Pakistan even before the ink
dried on the Ufa
statement that the NSA-level talks were doomed. It was thereafter a matter of
how diplomatic or brazen the pull-out of the talks would be. India was saved the embarrassment by Pakistan pulling the plug
first.
The mention of Balochistan in the
Sharm-el-Sheikh agreement of 2009 was enough for myopic Manmohan Singh baiters,
including the BJP and the Congress, to flay him. However, they failed to see
something else which was included in that same statement, something which should
have by now become the corner stone of India ’s foreign policy concerning bilaterals with
Pakistan .
And that was this sentence:
“Action on terrorism should not be linked
to the Composite Dialogue process and these should not be
bracketed.”
Now, what is the “Composite
Dialogue” about? It is about Kashmir and everything else including Kashmir ! The statement also clarifies that the “Composite
Dialogue” is not about Terrorism. The statement says India and Pakistan agree
not to “bracket” the two – exactly what Sartaj Aziz did today.
Sartaj Aziz is aware of this. His
masters in Pakistan are aware of this. That is
why they created the Hurriyat pretext and brought in Kashmir to ensure that the talks would never come off.
As for India ,
its reply to Aziz’s statement(s) should be a simple reiteration of the above
sentence. Nothing more, nothing less.
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