PM Modi must inform whether Indo-Pak NSA-level talks will go ahead, says Congress

The Congress on Monday questioned the Pakistan policy of the Centre after Islamabad's envoy in New Delhi invited the Hurriyat for Eid Milan, urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi to inform the country whether the NSA-level talks between the two sides will go ahead.

"Pakistan has repeatedly demonstrated that they have scant respect for the sensibilities of India. Last year, they had invited the Hurriyat, on Pakistan Day, they had invited the Hurriyat, and now again they have invited the Hurriyat. In addition to that, the chief prosecutor at the

26/11 trials in Pakistan has made it clear that they will not move the courts again to obtain the voice samples of Lakhvi," Congress leader Manish Tewari told ANI.

"Lakhvi's lawyer has said that they will not give any voice samples. So under these circumstances, Prime Minister Modi should inform the country whether the NSA level talks will go ahead and if these talks are going to go ahead, then why did the government call the talks off talks year, when the Hurriyat was invited by the Pakistan's high commissioner," he added.

Earlier, media reports had stated that Pakistan High Commission has invited leaders of the Hurriyat Conference for Eid Milan on July 21.

The high commission had reportedly withdrawn an earlier invitation for an Iftar dinner in light of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif's meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Ufa, Russia.

In August 2014, a meeting between the Hurriyat and the Pakistan envoy, Abdul Basit, had led to India calling off the proposed foreign secretary-level talks between the two nations.