India and Pakistan likely to hold first NSA-level dialogue on August 23-24

NEW DELHI: India and Pakistan are likely to hold their first NSA-level dialogue on August 23-24, government sources here said. The government is awaiting Islamabad's response before making an official announcement about the talks which the two countries decided to have when PM Narendra Modi met his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif last month in Ufa, Russia, on the sidelines of the SCO summit.

Pakistan on Sunday released 164 Indian fishermen in keeping with the statement issued jointly in Ufa which asked for release of all fishermen by both sides within 15 days.

Islamabad had last week reacted angrily to home minister Rajnath Singh's remarks that the terrorists responsible for the Gurdaspur attack came from Pakistan. It claimed that Singh's remarks would hurt regional peace and security.

As host nation, India had to propose the dates for the NSA dialogue. As per the statement issued in Ufa, Pakistani NSA Sartaj Aziz was to visit Delhi for a meeting with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval. Islamabad, though, is concerned about the fact that Aziz, as the adviser to Sharif on foreign affairs and effectively Pakistan's foreign minister, holds a position senior to Doval. Unlike Doval, Aziz holds cabinet minister rank and Pakistan may ask for Doval to be elevated to facilitate the dialogue.

It was Pakistan which had first proposed a dialogue between the NSAs which is meant to focus almost exclusively on terrorism. Islamabad has been eager to engage Doval as it believes that it is the Indian NSA who has been driving India's Pakistan policy in any case. For Doval, it was equally important to be not seen as ducking an engagement with Pakistan over the issue of terrorism. Since 26/11, India has always sought to prioritize terror as the most important issue in any substantive engagement between the two countries.

Doval is expected to make India's case forcibly in the talks over the issue, including the alleged involvement of Pakistani nationals in the Punjab attack last week and the bail to 26/11 accused Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi. Aziz though is expected to come prepared with a dossier carrying "evidence'' of Indian involvement in fomenting insurgency in Baluchistan. Islamabad, in fact, has also said it will take up the issue of alleged involvement of Indian agencies in the Peshwar massacre of 132 school children.