Pakistan

India 'advises' Pakistan against meeting Hurriyat leaders

MEA spokesperson says have conveyed to Pakistan meeting between Aziz and Hurriyat leaders would not be 'appropriate'

Afp/web Desk August 21, 2015

PHOTO: AFP

India said on Friday it has urged Pakistan against meeting Hurriyat leaders ahead of rare weekend talks between the two countries' top security advisers in New Delhi, hiking tensions between the arch rivals.

The foreign ministry said it would be inappropriate for Pakistan National Security Adviser Sartaj Aziz to hold the meeting on Sunday in New Delhi just before scheduled talks with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval.

India cancelled talks with Pakistan last year between their foreign secretaries, outraged over a similar meeting that took place, a move that set back already tense relations between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

The official spokesperson for India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Vikas Swarup in a series of tweets confirmed Pakistan has been advised against a meeting with Hurriyat leaders.

Read: Kashmir issue: FO defends Aziz’s liaison with Hurriyat leaders

“India has advised Pakistan that it would not be appropriate for Mr Sartaj Aziz to meet with Hurriyat representatives in India,” Swarup said.

India has advised Pakistan yesterday that it would not be appropriate for Mr. Sartaz Aziz to meet with Hurriyat representatives in India
— Randhir Jaiswal (@MEAIndia) August 21, 2015

He added, “Such a meeting would not be in keeping with the spirit and intent of the Ufa understanding to jointly work to combat terrorism.”

Such a meeting would not be in keeping with the spirit and intent of the Ufa understanding to jointly work to combat terrorism.
— Randhir Jaiswal (@MEAIndia) August 21, 2015

Swarup further said India has sought confirmation of the proposed agenda for the meeting conveyed to Pakistan on August 18.

We have also sought confirmn of our proposed agenda for the NSA level talks that was conveyed to the Pakistani side on 18 Aug 2015.
— Randhir Jaiswal (@MEAIndia) August 21, 2015

Pakistan has said it plans to raise all important issues, including Kashmir, when Aziz meets his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval on August 24. Aziz is expected to meet Hurriyat leaders shortly after he arrives in Delhi on August 23.

Earlier, the Pakistan High Commission had invited Hurriyat leaders to meet with Aziz during his stay in Delhi.

Read: No ‘formal agenda’ for NSA talks in Delhi

According to sources, invitations have been sent to key Hurriyat leaders, including chairperson Mirwaiz Umer Farooq and Syed Ali Shah Geelani, for a reception hosted by the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi.

Pakistan on Thursday defended the move to invite Kashmiri leaders to a meeting with Aziz in New Delhi and announced it will raise the longstanding Kashmir dispute during the NSA talks in the Indian capital. The move is a clear signal that Pakistan will not bow to Indian pressure ahead of the much-talked about meeting scheduled for August 23 and 24.

The controversy has already cast a shadow on the NSA meeting. The state administration in Indian-administered Kashmir briefly detained Hurriyat leaders on Thursday; a move Indian media suggested was aimed at conveying to Islamabad New Delhi’s unhappiness at the invitation.

Read: Hurriyat leaders released after brief house arrest ahead of Sartaj's visit to New Delhi

The meeting was supposed to focus on terrorism-related issues but will remain ‘open ended’ since the two neighbours failed to agree on the agenda. When asked, Foreign Office spokesperson Qazi Khalilullah said both sides were in contact with regard to the finalisation of the agenda but added that Pakistan will raise all issues of importance, including Kashmir, in the meeting.

On Thursday morning, hardline Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani and leaders of the moderate faction Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Moulvi Abbas Ansari and JKLF leader Yasin Malik were placed under house arrest.

COMMENTS (23)

shahid | 8 years ago | Reply An unnecessary and provacative move by Pakistan. Nothing new will be learned or gained by meeting Hurriyat leaders at this point of time.

wb | 8 years ago | Reply @Pakistani Dude: "Dear Mr Swarup and other Indians, in case you have forgotten, let me remind you that Pakistan is a sovereign country and we make all our decisions ourselves." Are you sure? 1) Did you make the decision to severe yourself in 1971? 2) Did you make the decision to kill Osama in Abbottabad? 3) Did you make the decision to fly drones into North Waziristan to eliminate terrorists? 4) Did you make the decision to release Reymond Davis? 5) Did you make the decision to attack Karachi naval base? Did you make the decision to attack Salala? ... ... ... You did? Wonderful. Sorry, I wasted your time.

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Aamir - Toronto | 8 years ago | Reply @Joe....Pakistan is not obliged to offer any thing to India or Afghanistan, did you forget that India is an occupying force in Kashmir not Pakistan.

Cosmo | 8 years ago | Reply Land of Puree!

Cosmo | 8 years ago | Reply @Pakistani Dude: Do that in your own country. Do not come to my country and try to play games.

Bairooni Haath | 8 years ago | Reply Clearly this is just a photo op for Pakistan. Why not Sartaz Aziz save time and money and just talk to Pakistan diplomats, Pakistan military, Pakistani talk show hosts and Hurriyat.

Joe | 8 years ago | Reply A question to fellow Pakistanis. What you have in return in we make some compromise on Kashmir apart from territorial integrity. Well you have nothing for us nor for Afghanistan apart from nuisance.

Salim Khan | 8 years ago | Reply Either Pakistan is non-serious to resolve the issue of Terrorism,or is scared of getting exposed ( as in the past) on terrorism. If not why should they bring something irrelevant (Hurriyat,which neither elected nor represent the Kashmiris) to the talks?

Aam Admi Bechara | 8 years ago | Reply "Pakistan's Prime minister" nawaz sharif has already been very obediently following "advice" of indian mentors. He never utters a single word neither on Kashmir nor on india's sposored terrorism in Balochistan and Karachi. He had taken his son to india with him while there on state expense and took him to the house of an indian businessman.

Pankaj | 8 years ago | Reply After last talks cancelled Pakistan continue cried at every forum for India to continue talks. Now if are more interested in talking to Hyuriat than Indian government then what were you doing for past one year, you could have talked to them any time in past one year. Pakistan's government actions of not inviting J&K speaker is commonwealth parliamentary meet has already embarrassed Pakistan (since most of the countries protested this action and forced Pakistan to cancel the meet). Now with whole world watching NSA talks is going to embarrass it further. Pakistan has to understand that international community can not be fooled with such tactics. Foreign policies are driven through diplomacy and not by arrogance.

Shahid | 8 years ago | Reply I agree with India on this. Since there is no specific agenda on the list why meet Hurriyet leaders at the cost of these much needed talks?

Tepper | 8 years ago | Reply Iam not too sure how much of self respect India has. If the Indian government has to advise Pakistan to not meet Hurriyat leaders instead of not allowing them to meet Pakistan, on its own territory, then what jargon has India been giving of Kashmir being an inseparable arm of India?

pangkaj Bhattachargee | 8 years ago | Reply Does pakistan want to reslove unresolved issues with india through dialogue ? If wish then better to pakistan not to tease india by taking contentious issues .

ziddi | 8 years ago | Reply It is for anyone to foresee the outcome of talks if these at all happen in the first place.Pakistan's insistence to meet separatists,whom India considers trouble makers of Kashmir shows the seriousness it attaches to stalled peace process..Instead of generating good will for further future serious talks at higher levels Pakistan has degenerated the whole process by vitiating atmosphere.Let us believe good sense will prevail and talks will happen in good atmosphere or else we are back to square one..

SB | 8 years ago | Reply To be or not to be! Back to square one :)

jayant | 8 years ago | Reply India should openly help Baluch people , help Baluch highlight their plight on all international level. Pakistan is weak economically ,politically , all India needs to do is light a match and grab pop corn.

Ridwan | 8 years ago | Reply Pakistan should concede some ground to India, and propose that the meeting with Hurriyat officials not take place at the Pak High Commission. Instead, it should be held at some state owned building somewhere in New Delhi.

Bewildered | 8 years ago | Reply India should know that Pakistan is not Bhutan, Bangladesh, or Sri Lanka who can be bullied in to submission, and should realize that the dynamics of Kashmir are not the same as were in East Pakistan where Pakistan had the disadvantages of geographical disconnect of 1,000 miles and a local uprising cultivated and supported by India. It is no more 1971 Pakistan and this time India is at the receiving end of the Kashmiris wrath. Moreover, it is only foolish to think that people can be kept enslaved by gun in the 21st century. The sooner India accepts this fact, the better it would be for her and the people of the region.

Sodomite | 8 years ago | Reply In the present atmosphere talks should be called off. Without agenda this will be another fiasco like Russia summit, with Indian officials reading out a "joint statement" with no mention of Kashmir

GS@Y | 8 years ago | Reply Oh this is desperate. From realizing that they overplayed their hand after canceling the foreign secretary level talks last year, to the current comical house-arrest-or-no-house-arrest bumbling around, the government of India is basically now begging Pakistan not to embarrass them. Tut tut. Pakistan really put them on the spot by keeping its cool. Modi's bluster will now be exposed to the Indian public for its pointlessness.

Juggernaut | 8 years ago | Reply Brilliantly articulated by India, India is very clear on what they have to discuss in the meeting.

Patrotic Baloch | 8 years ago | Reply Kashmir is an internationally recognized disputed territory. Kashmir is no part of India. Pakistan will definitely meet Hurriya leaders despite of India's "panic"

Pakistani Dude | 8 years ago | Reply Dear Mr Swarup and other Indians, in case you have forgotten, let me remind you that Pakistan is a sovereign country and we make all our decisions ourselves.

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