Sartaj Aziz meeting Hurriyat may affect India-Pak dialogue: Salman Khurshid

GURGAON: India and Pakistan reiterated their commitment for an early meeting of Directors-General of Military Operations to prevent violation of a 10-year-old ceasefire along the Line of Control. External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid who met his Pakistani counterpart Sartaz Aziz in Gurgaon on Tuesday also expressed New Delhi’s displeasure over Aziz’s meeting with Hurriyat leaders and delay in Pakistan’s trial of those responsible for the November 2008 attack on Mumbai.

Aziz, in Gurgaon for an Asia-Europe meeting, had a 35-minute interaction with Khurshid on the sidelines. The meeting was to review the progress in bilateral ties since Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his counterpart Nawaz Sharif met in New York, 6 weeks ago.





Despite the agreement in New York, DGMOs of the two countries are yet to meet. As per existing arrangement, DGMOs talk over hotline every Tuesday to discuss issues on LoC and the international border. However, it looks like they are unable to decide on a common date to meet yet.

India has made progress in bilateral talks conditional on the maintenance of peace and tranquility along the Line of Control. Pakistani troops have so far violated the ceasefire along the LoC – most important confidence building measure between the two sides – 136 times this year.

Delhi is extremely disappointed with Islamabad and views the ceasefire violations as part of Pakistan’s strategy to internationalise Kashmir.

Aziz is yet to get an audience with the Indian PM, but he met National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon who is his Indian counterpart. Briefing media after the Khurshid-Aziz talks, MEA Spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said that the two ministers reiterated the demand for DGMOs to meet to maintain sanctity along LoC. Khurshid and Aziz decided that the two DGMOs will report to their respective Army Chiefs and hold a meeting soon.

Akbaruddin informed while several other issues were on the agenda including Hafiz Saeed’s hate speeches, proposed DGMO meeting and delay in 26/11 trial figured prominently at the talks. The External Affairs Minister was particularly upset with the meeting that Aziz had with Kashmiri separatist leaders after his arrival on Sunday.

Briefing the media ahead of his meeting with Aziz, Khurshid minced no words and said such meeting with Hurriyat was counter-productive to India-Pak Dialogue. “What we say and what we do we have to carefully watch, it’s not I don’t want to give advice to my colleague from across the border, but if there is seriousness to communicate and have a meaningful dialogue with India that is sustainable for peace, it will be necessary to respect India’s sentiments, points of view, and sensitivities of our country,” the Minister said in his reaction to a query on the controversial meeting.