Can think about resuming FS talks if PM Modi takes initiative, says Sartaj Aziz

Rejecting the view that Pakistan has repeatedly violated the cease-fire arrangement on the Line of Control (Loc) and the International Border (IB), and adding that meeting with Kashmiri leaders is normal practice, Pakistan's National Security and Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj Aziz said here that foreign secretary-level talks between Pakistan and India can resume if Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi takes the initiative.

Maintaining that it was Prime Minister Modi who had called off the proposed August 25 foreign secretary-level talks, Aziz said, "If the Indian Prime Minister will take the initiative, we will see (about FS talks resumption), as he suspended the talks."

Refusing to accept that Pakistan has been violating the cease-fire repeatedly, Aziz said, "There were no violations, but a normal practice."

"The cancelation of FS talks was an overreaction according to us. Meeting with Hurriyat leaders is not a new thing. We have been talking to them for last 20 years," he concluded, while referring to Pakistan envoy to India Abdul Basit's meeting with Kashmiri 'separatist' leaders in New Delhi before the scheduled but subsequently suspended foreign secretary-level talks in Islamabad.

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