Setback to normalisation: APHC leaders deplore cancellation of NSA meet

Criticise New Delhi for not showing seriousness in resolving Kashmir issue

All Parties Hurriyat Conference (APHC) leaders on Monday condemned the cancellation of a scheduled meeting between the national security advisers of Pakistan and India due to New Delhi’s intransigence.

APHC leaders Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Shabbir Ahmad Shah and Muhammad Yasin Malik deplored the cancellation of the meeting, which were scheduled to be held on August 23, Radio Pakistan reported.

“India is not sincere in resolving the Kashmir dispute peacefully,” they said in a statement. They vowed that they would continue their struggle for the right to self-determination, regardless of India’s actions. Moreover, the APHC representatives appreciated Pakistan’s stance on the Kashmir dispute.

Different interpretations of the Ufa joint statement had led to a blame game that eventually compelled Islamabad to call off the NSA talks just hours before Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s Adviser on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz was to travel to New Delhi.

While India was adamant that under the Ufa accord, the NSA meeting was restricted to terrorism-related issues, Pakistan insisted the Kashmir issue was very much part of the agenda.

In an interview with India’s CNN-IBN news channel, Aziz admitted that the Ufa agreement was interpreted differently by both the countries. He, however, insisted that Pakistan’s agenda of the NSA talks was in line with the Ufa joint statement.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 25^th, 2015.