Janjivan Bureau
Islamabad: Pakistan NSA Chief Sartaj Aziz said that talk between the two countries is depend on India. On the issue raise by India he said that how can India ignore Kashmir issue? Aziz said that Pakistan would continue to support the people of Kashmir in their right to self determination. He also said that there was no question of ruling out Kashmir out of any talks.
“If Kashmir is not an issue then why are there 700,000 troops in Kashmir?” Aziz said.
Want to address ceasefire violations at NSA meet, says Aziz
The Pakistan NSA said that they did want to address the issue of ceasefire violations along the border between the two countries.
“The escalation is very worrisome. We do want to address that (at the NSA meet),” he said.
Terrorism doesn’t only involve Pakistan, says Aziz
The NSA said that he would be giving three dossiers to India on RAW’s involvement in terror in Pakistan.
“They think terrorism is only involving Pakistan. We have our own version of that,” Aziz said.
He said that the talks between the two countries was still on because India hasn’t called off talks just yet.
Agenda isn’t to negotiate Kashmir, says Aziz
Aziz claimed that Kashmir was a crucial part of talks between the two nations and India was miscontruing it.
Our agenda wasn’t to negotiate on Kashmir, he said. The NSA said that it was a complex issue but he hoped to kickstart the process of negotiating on issues linked to Kashmir.
“We want to ask them how we’ll negotiate on these issues,” he said.
Aziz said that they would be watching for the press conference of Sushma Swaraj. However, he said that the arrest of Hurriyat leaders was ‘disturbing’.
The NSA said that it wasn’t unusual for him to meet with Hurriyat leaders and it had been done in the past as well.
“One doesn’t put such thing on the agenda for talks,” he said,
Never expected a breakthrough, says Aziz
We never intended a breakthrough but it would be more for addressing each others concerns, Aziz said.
He said he had a very minimum agenda for the meeting: reducing tensions between the two nations.
“If it does that, it may still be worthwhile,” Aziz said.
Willing to go to India for talks, says Aziz
Aziz said that the Indian government was trying to cancel talks between the NSAs on flimsy grounds. He said that Kashmir was integral to discussions between the two nations.
“I will present three dossiers on RAWs involvement in terror acts in Pakistan,” Aziz said.
He said if it wasn’t accepted on 24 August, he would give it in New York next month.
“I am still prepared to go to Delhi without any pre-prepared conditions,” he said
