NEW DELHI, Aug 19:
The first-ever Indo-Pak NSA-level talks appear to be on schedule for next week despite Pakistan High Commission’s decision to hold consultations with Kashmiri separatist leaders, a move that has not gone down well with the Indian Government.
Injecting yet another irritant ahead of the talks, Pakistan invited hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, moderate Hurriyat leader Umar Farooq and other separatists with National Security Advisor Sartaj Aziz on August 23, a day he is scheduled to arrive here to hold talks with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval on terror.
The Pakistani action comes after persistent ceasefire violations as well as two terror attacks in recent weeks in Gurdaspur and Udhampur which many observers see as Pakistan army’s opposition to any discussions with India.
Though the Government refrained from making any official comment on the invite to Hurriyat leaders, sources said the situation was being monitored and India will “respond appropriately”.
“Let’s see what happens. We are monitoring the situation. The Government will respond appropriately,” they said.
Asserting that there are some sections in the Pakistan establishment who want to “scuttle” the Indo-Pak talks and are ratcheting up anti-India activities thereby, pushing India to call off NSA-level talks.
“The invitation should be seen as latest provocative move in that direction,” the sources said, and added that “We believe that terror and talks cannot go on together but we are not shy of talks on terror.”
However, Pakistan High Commission justified its invitation to Kashmiri separatist leaders, saying such meetings are not “unprecedented”.
“We have been meeting and talking to them (Kashmiri leaders). There is nothing unprecedented about it. I don’t understand why there is so much hype,” Manzoor Ali Memon, Counsellor (Press) in Pakistan High Commission, said PTI.
The Pakistan mission here has also invited Geelani and other separatists over dinner which will be attended by a “select gathering” on the eve of the NSA-level talks.
The Government sources also accused Pakistan of “backtracking” from the very next day of the Ufa statement issued after the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif last month when they decided to move on by taking number of “forward-looking” steps including a meeting between their NSAs on terror.
Last year, India had unilaterally called off Foreign Secretary-level talks after the Pakistan High Commissioner here had held “consultations” with the Kashmiri separatist leaders on the eve of the FS-level meeting.
Significantly, Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit had last week said his country will not “abandon” the Kashmiris’ “legitimate struggle for freedom”, stressing that to have normal and cooperative relationship with India it was necessary to settle the decades-old dispute.
Meanwhile, at the upcoming NSA-level talks, India will hand over to Pakistan a list of 60 fugitives who have taken shelter in that country besides dismissing comparison between Samjhauta Express blast and Mumbai terror attack citing the role of state actors in the latter incident.
The Indian side will also confront Pakistan with 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, Government sources said here today.
Deportation of Dawood Ibrahim and speedy trial in 26/11 Mumbai terror attack case are some of the key issues to be raised by National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval with his counterpart Sartaj Aziz during the talks next week, the sources said.
A list of around 60 fugitive, including Dawood, Tiger Memon, both prime accused in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts, and several terrorists of Indian Mujahideen, will be given to Pakistan asking that country to hand over them to India to face the law for the crimes perpetrated by them, they said.
Expecting Pakistan to raise the issue of Samjhauta Express blasts in which majority of the victims were Pakistanis, the Indian side is expected to dismiss its comparison with Mumbai attacks of November 2008.
Doval is expected to point out that while the Mumbai carnage was carried out at the behest of and with active involvement of Pakistani state agencies, there was no such aspect in the Samjhauta blast, the sources said.
All suspects in the Samjhauta case, including Swami Assemananda, are in jail and the trial is on track, the sources said.
On the other hand, the trial in 26/11 case in Pakistani is going nowhere and all prime accused, including LeT commander Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, are roaming freely.
Besides, Islamabad had not acted upon the Letters Rogatory (a formal request from a court to a foreign court for judicial assistance) sent in connection with the Mumbai terror attack case.
The statement given by Pakistani terrorist Mohammad Naved, who was arrested in Udhampur, is likely to be given to the Pakistani side, the sources said.
In his statement, Naved has said that Lashkar-e-Toiba founder Hafiz Saeed and persons appearing to be Pakistan army officers visited the terror camp once in a while and gave them motivational speech and tips on terror.
India will also trash any attempt by Pakistan to link Indian agencies to the unrest in Baluchistan stressing that India has nothing to do with the problem there as it was Islamabad’s own faultlines, the sources said.
A separate set of documents on Naved will be given to Aziz that will include his address and details of the camps where he was trained.
Naved has said he belongs to Rafiq colony in Tokianwali of Ghulam Mohamadabad in Pakistan Punjab’s Faisalabad district.
He sneaked into Jammu and Kashmir on June 6-7 along with three other LeT terrorists through Nuri post in Tangmarg. They were received by a militant called Ubaida, who handed over them to another LeT militant Abu Kasim.
Naved had first undergone 21 days’ terror training at LeT camp at Gari Habibullah and later a three-month training at Sahwai Nallah camp at Makaziallah.
Last week, Doval held a meeting with Home Secretary L C Goyal, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar, Defence Secretary G Mohan Kumar and top security officials where they discussed the issues to be raised before his Pakistani counterpart.
Pakistan Prime Minister’s Advisor on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz will visit India on August 23 for NSA-level talks between the two countries.
The decision to hold talks was taken when Prime Ministers of the two countries met in Ufa, Russia last month on the sidelines of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit. (PTI)
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