Foreign secretary meeting just talks about talks: Hina Rabbani Khar

Former foreign minister says Modi's government has given into hate mongers; encouraged an environment of hostility

KARACHI: Former foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar said on Tuesday that relations between India and Pakistan are at their lowest, while summing up the Indian foreign secretary's visit as "talks about talks". 

"The foreign-secretary level talks are just talks about talks. How do they get to talk, who gets what pretext," Khar said in an exclusive interview with The Express Tribune. 

Indian Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar arrived in Islamabad Tuesday morning and met his counterpart Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry to discuss issues related to the South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation.

Read: Ensuring peace and tranquility along border is vital: India foreign secretary

"The current talks are held under the shrouds of the 'Saarc Yatra'," Khar said, which she believed was largely unhelpful to the dialogue process.

"Look at the irony, in 67 years, we cannot even agree on what kind of dialogue to hold," the former foreign minister said.

"Pakistan-India relations are at their lowest," she said when asked if relations have improved since she held office as the foreign minister.

The former foreign minister hoped that Line of Control tensions and the 2003 ceasefire would be on the agenda but had little hope of progress from the Indian side. Sporadic outbreak of hostilities have bedeviled relations between the two countries in recent months.

"Narendra Modi's government has been overly cautious about India-Pakistan relations. To the extent of being scared," Khar said. "In the past one year, Modi's government has only given in to the constituency of hate mongers and they have encouraged an environment of hostility."

Read: Modi likely to use 'military force' if terror attack traced to Pakistan: former US diplomat

She said if Modi wants to be statesman he envisions to be then he needs to take up issues as they are.

"A government which is too scared to engage bilaterally does not realistically leave a lot of hope for relations to improve," Khar said.

"He invited Nawaz Sharif but that too under the garb of Saarc summit and then cancelled talks on a pretext that has never been used before."

"Every Pakistani high commissioner, foreign minister or prime minister has reached out and engaged with the Hurriyat and that is our official position," Khar said, adding that they have to be part of the dialogue process as Pakistan believes they are important stakeholders.

Read: Mufti Sayeed praises Pakistan on first day as Indian Kashmir CM

"Not recognizing them as such does not do any favour to anyone or to the dialogue process," the former foreign minister said.

She was, however, far more optimistic from the Pakistani side.

"Pakistan has recognized that there is no single source to its woes. India might be one of them but there are many others," Khar said.

"India, on the other hand, still likes to believe that Pakistan is its only nemesis. I am positive on Pakistan as it has shown it wants relations to improve."

Read: Army chief warns India on provocation along border

Former foreign secretary, ambassador Najmuddin Shaikh, said that even though the Indian foreign secretary’s visit has been termed a ‘Saarc Yatra’, the announcement by the Indian foreign office spokesperson that talks with Pakistan would cover all issues including Jammu and Kashmir indicates that there is a willingness on India’s part to resume discussions on all the issues that form part of the Composite Dialogue.

Read: Breaking the deadlock: Pakistan to offer India new CBMs

He said Pakistan's priority to end the breaches of the 2004 ceasefire agreement along the Working Boundary and the Line of Control (LoC) "is a necessary prerequisite for winning the internal battle that Pakistan is waging against terrorism and in the step-by-step success of which India has a stake."