ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday clarified its stance for talks with India saying there would be no talks with India without the ‘all important Kashmir Issue’ included in the agenda.
“Pakistan will also not accept any pre-conditions for talks with India,” Foreign Office spokesman Syed Qazi Khalilullah said during a weekly news briefing held in Islamabad today.
The spokesman added that there is no proposal under consideration for a meeting between National Security Advisers of India and Pakistan on the sidelines of UN General Assembly meeting.
According to UN website The 70th Regular Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA 70) is scheduled to open at UN Headquarters on Tuesday, September 15, 2015.
The General Debate of the 70th Session of the UNGA will take place from September 28 to October 6.
Security adviser level talks between India and Pakistan, scheduled for August 23 and 24, were canceled as both nations reached a deadlock over Pakistan’s insistence to hold a meeting with Kashmiri Hurriyat leaders in New Delhi on August 23 despite India’s ‘advice’ to the contrary.
Pakistan on August 22 said that it had come to the conclusion that the proposed National Security Adviser (NSA) level talks between Pakistan and India would not serve any purpose if conducted on the basis of the two conditions laid down by Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Sawaraj.
The announcement comes hours before NSA Sartaj Aziz was to leave for India on August 23.
The Indian foreign minister had earlier said in a presser that India had made clear on August 18 that the scheduled meeting between national security advisers will only discuss issues related to terrorism.
“No other topic will come under discussion,” she said, adding that all outstanding issues including Kashmir are part of the composite dialogue between the two countries which had not yet resumed.
Sawaraj had also said India did not recognise a third party in talks with Pakistan, referring to Pakistan’s invitation to Hurriyat leaders for a meeting in Delhi.
Ball in Afghan court over ISI-NDS deal
Answering a question about agreement between Pakistan’s premier intelligence agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Afghan intelligence outfit National Directorate of Security (NDS), Khaliullah said that it is up to the Afghan government to decide how to proceed on with the vital agreement signed for security cooperation between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Earlier in May this year, the two intelligence agencies had signed an accord for cooperation, aimed at bolstering fight against terrorism.
Under the agreement, the two intelligence agencies would cooperate in counter-terrorism operations. An essential element of the accord is a provision for joint probe of the terrorism suspects. The ISI would also equip the NDS and train its personnel.
Talking about the anti-terror operation within the country, Khalilullah maintained that Pakistan has taken decisive action against all terror groups in North Waziristan without discrimination while also downplaying rumours of Islamic State’s presence on Pakistani soil.
“There are no foot prints of IS in Pakistan however Pakistani security agencies have taken all measures to meet any possible threat from the terrorist group”, said the spokesman. (agency)
