Beyond crossborder terror, Pakistan exploring Kashmir issue in NSA-level meet

NEW DELHI: Pakistan is yet to confirm the dates for the NSA-level meeting in Delhi but it is seeking to expand the ambit and scope of talks to include Kashmir and other outstanding issues.

It is no secret that both India and Pakistan will confront each other with dossiers on charges of crossborder terror during the Ajit Doval and Sartaj Aziz level talks. India’s case has been further strengthened following evidence of Pakistani hand in Gurdaspur terror strikes and Udhampur incident and would present them to Aziz.

However, Pakistan does not want to limit the agenda to terror and would soon propose to Delhi to expand the scope to include the issue of Kashmir, Pakistan government officials indicated.



Islamabad’s hardening of stand on Kashmir and including it on the agenda can be understood from Aziz’s statement on Saturday when he justified Sharif government decision’s not to invite Speaker of the J&K Assembly for Commonwealth Speakers meet in the capital city this October.

It is understood that it would be difficult for Sharif to dilute Pakistan’s stated position on J&K at every bilateral meeting with India. "Sharif gave a concession to India by not insisting to refer to Kashmir issue in the Ufa joint statement. Earlier when he visited India in May 2014 at the swearing in ceremony of Narendra Modi, he did not emphasise on Kashmir. However, the Pakistani PM cannot be viewed giving a sense of climbdown on the issue at every occasion," said a Pak-based analyst who did not wish to be named.

Officials and experts here feel that the Pak Army views Sharif’s diluting stand on Kashmir at the last two meetings as an emerging pattern and therefore has upped the ante on the issue since the Ufa meet.