India ready to resume dialogue with Pakistan, but without any condition

Yet another attempt by India to resume the stalled dialogue with Pakistan seems to have failed with both sides sharply differing on the content and sequence of the proposed talks. While India maintains that it is keen to go ahead with the dialogue between both the national security advisers (NSAs) with terrorism being the central subject, Pakistan believes terrorism cannot be discussed without having a dialogue on the Kashmir issue.

Apparently, despite the recent showdown on the NSA-level talks, which was slated to happen in Delhi in August, India did make an attempt to revive the dialogue when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited New York last month to attend the UN General Assembly meeting where Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was also present.

However, it was Pakistan that refused to have the dialogue as it wanted Kashmir also to be discussed. Additionally, it also wanted a meeting between both the foreign ministers. Both these conditions were unacceptable to India, hence the meeting did not take place, according to official sources. Sources also indicated that India is still keen to continue the NSA-level dialogue with terrorism being the main focus. “It is internal politics involving non-elected members that is not letting the dialogue process to take place. We would have been open to a dialogue in New York if they (Pakistan) were more keen. What has not happened as to what was discussed in Ufa (Russia) is because of Pakistan’s internal politics,” the official said.

Both PM Modi and Sharif had last met in Ufa (Russia) in July on the sidelines of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). During the meeting, it was decided that NSA of both sides — Ajit Doval and Sartaj Aziz — will be meeting to “discuss all issues connected to terrorism”.  But just on the eve of talks, Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit met the Kashmiri separatist leaders, which irked India. The Narendra Modi-led government made it clear to Pakistan that it would not allow any “third-party intervention” with regards to the participation of Hurriyat leaders.

“Pakistan’s domestic politics have taken a different shape post-Ufa. We would have been open to NSA-level talks but we cannot give in to their demands. There is turbulence in their system. There has to be recognition to the fact that terrorism is statecraft,” the official said. India believes at a time when the prime suspect of 26/11 Mumbai attack, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi is “roaming freely” in Pakistan, it will not be possible to discuss any other subject apart from terrorism with them.

Lakhvi was released from a Rawalpindi jail in April. He, along with six other convicts, face trial for the 2008 Mumbai attack, which killed 166 people.