Aziz accuses Modi of pursuing ‘anti-Pakistan policy’

DG Rangers, BSF chief begin five-day talks today; PM adviser hopes meeting will help lower border tensions

ISLAMABAD:

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s top aide on foreign policy has accused Indian Premier Narendra Modi of pursuing an ‘anti-Pakistan’ policy as senior military commanders from the two hostile neighbours prepare to meet in the Indian capital today (Wednesday) to discuss the ongoing border tensions.

The five-day talks between the director general of Pakistan Rangers and the inspector general of India’s Border Security Force (BSF) is the first high-level interaction between the two countries since the cancellation of a scheduled meeting between their national security advisers last month.

A 16-member Pakistan delegation is led by DG Rangers Maj Gen Umar Farooq Burki while BSF IG Devendra Kumar Pathak will lead the Indian side. The meeting is taking place against the backdrop of ongoing tensions along the Line of Control and working boundary.

Speaking to reporters ahead of the New Delhi rendezvous, Premier Nawaz Sharif’s Adviser on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz voiced hope that the ‘significant’ meeting would help reduce tensions between the two countries.

He said Pakistan would raise the issue of India’s unprovoked firing along the LoC and working boundary. However, he insisted that Modi had contested the last year elections in his country on an anti-Pakistan platform and now wanted to dictate terms. “But we will never accept such dictation,” he added.



Aziz also made it clear that Islamabad would hold talks with New Delhi only when the longstanding Kashmir dispute was on the agenda. “Kashmir is part and parcel of Pakistan-India talks,” he insisted.

He said the meeting between the DG Rangers and the BSF chief was part of an understanding reached between the prime ministers of the two countries in the Russian city of Ufa where they had met on the sidelines of a summit meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

However, a senior military official said the meeting was a routine affair and had nothing to do with the Ufa accord. The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, explained that the meeting was taking place as per the Border Ground Rule 1961. “It is a routine, biannual meeting,” he added.

There has been also confusion on the exact agenda of the talks.

While Aziz insisted Pakistan would raise the unabated ceasefire violations by Indian troops, the military official said the DG Rangers and the BSF IG only have the mandate to discuss issues related to international border and working boundary.

According to the state-run Press Trust of India news agency, ceasefire violations in Jammu and Kashmir, including sniper attacks, infiltration, intrusion in Rann of Kutch and smuggling were among the key issues India was expected to raise with Pakistan.

The Pakistan Rangers has included in its agenda issues like alleged use of objectionable language by troops on the Indian side of the border and airspace violations by suspected unmanned aerial vehicles.  It has also listed alleged construction of defence infrastructure along the border, firing by taking aid of ‘Sarkanda’ (thick bushes), no response on Simultaneous Coordinated Patrolling along this frontier, smuggling and apprehension and killing of civilians.

The Pakistan Rangers have also alleged that the Indian side has not been responding to their request of flag meetings when they desire and have claimed use of heavy ammunition by India during cross-border firing, reported the PTI.


Published in The Express Tribune, September 9^th, 2015.