Aziz remarks not to affect India’s engagement with Pakistan

Pakistan NSA Sartaj Aziz's remarks that Kashmir remains on the agenda and that "more evidence" is needed on the Mumbai attack will not affect India's engagement with that country after they agreed to the revival of the stalled dialogue process.

Giving this assessment, sources said on Tuesday that the Indian government will go by the spirit of the joint statement that laid out a roadmap for restarting the dialogue process after talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in the Russian city of Ufa last Friday. Downplaying the statement by Aziz, who is Pakistan Prime Minister's Advisor on National Security and Foreign Affairs, the sources said he did not talk about anything which affected "actionable propositions" agreed upon during Modi-Sharif talks.

Observing that Aziz's comments did not reflect a U-turn by Pakistan after the Ufa talks, the sources said it would be unfair to make such judgements when the process for engagement agreed to between the two premiers including talks between NSAs of the two countries is yet to start. 

Describing the joint statement issued after Modi-Sharif talks as a "considered, honest, accurate summary of the substance" of talks, the sources said for India what Islamabad tells it is important and not what they convey to the domestic audience.