Indian Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar has agreed to visit Islamabad to hold talks with his counterpart, provided the talks focus only on cross-border terrorism and not Kashmir per se, said sources in the Ministry of External Affairs.
MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup said the “ball is now in Pakistan’s court.” “They had made an offer, we have responded to the offer. It is up to them to carry it forward,” added Swarup.
The Ministry maintained that Kashmir remains India’s internal matter and the only discussion between the two countries would be to put an end to cross-border terrorism in the northern state.
The Ministry reiterated S Jaishankar’s statement that it was for Islamabad to decide on readiness to discuss issues of cross-border terrorism, vacation of illegal occupied parts of Jammu and Kashmir and closing down of terror camps.
We have also conveyed that GoI rejects in their entirety the self-serving allegations regarding the situation in J&K, which is an integral part of India where Pakistan has no locus standi.MEA statement
In a press conference on Wednesday, Jaishankar said:
In the last two years, you have seen a great effort on our part to reach out to Pakistan . Problem is that the terrorism issue has become so central to the relationship that it makes the relationship difficult to grow.
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz had formally invited his Indian counterpart to Islamabad for talks on the Kashmir issue, saying it is the “international obligation” of both the countries to resolve the issue.
The invitation was extended amid tension in bilateral ties due to the war of words between the two nations over the issue.
Last week, while reacting to a statement by Aziz regarding the invitation, India had made it clear that it would talk on “contemporary and relevant” issues in Indo-Pak relations and at this time it included the stopping of Pakistan-supported cross-border terrorism.
Swarup added that the issues to be discussed with Pakistan included:
Incitement to violence and terrorism across the border, parading of internationally recognised terrorists like Hafiz Saeed and Syed Salahuddin, and sincere follow up on the Mumbai attack trial and the Pathankot attack investigation in Pakistan.
India and Pakistan have been engaged in a war of words over the statements by Islamabad on the situation in Kashmir, which is witnessing unrest following the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani on 8 July.
Pakistan described Wani as a martyr, and also tried to internationalise the issue with its “Black Day” for Kashmir.
India has been maintaining that Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in the Valley is the root cause of the turbulence.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh in a statement in Parliament said India was only willing to talk about Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir and not Jammu and Kashmir.
Pakistani journalist Yusra Askari had earlier tweeted saying:
Earlier reports too suggested that India had rejected Pakistan’s invitation on talks on Kashmir.
(With inputs from PTI.)