Nuclear power Pakistan knows to defend itself: Aziz
25 Aug 2015 6:35 AM IST
Holding that as a nuclear-armed country, Pakistan knew how to defend itself, Sartaj Aziz, the Prime Minister’s advisor on foreign affairs and national security, has accused India of acting like a regional superpower, a media report said on Monday.
“(Prime Minister Narendra) Modi’s India acts as if they are a regional superpower; we are a nuclear-armed country and we know how to defend ourselves,” Dawn on Monday quoted Aziz saying a day earlier.
“We also have evidence of Indian agency RAW’s involvement in fuelling terrorism in Pakistan,” Aziz said, adding that while Pakistan has evidence of Indian involvement in terrorism, India on the other hand only has propaganda against Pakistan.
“Propaganda against Pakistan is more important for the Indians, rather than giving us evidence,” the adviser stated.
Aziz also said that India wants normalisation on its own terms; it would like to talk about trade and connectivity but not much else. “If Kashmir is not an issue for India, why have they stationed 7,00,000 troops in Kashmir,” he asked.
Aziz also stated that India should hold a referendum in Kashmir and the people would decide their own fate.
“India should realise after the current episode that their tactics are not working and they need to be sincere about a dialogue with Pakistan,” added Aziz. On Sunday, the Pakistani government decided to cancel the planned meeting of National Security Advisors with India, citing New Delhi’s refusal to allow an expanded agenda and a meeting with Kashmiri leaders.
The Indian External Affairs Ministry immediately termed the decision “unfortunate” and tried to wash its hands of the controversy that led to the cancellation of the meeting by saying that it “did not set any preconditions”. The decision was announced after Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj virtually set a deadline for Pakistan to decide by midnight if it was ready to go ahead with the talks by agreeing not to meet the Kashmiri leaders and restricting the discussion to terrorism.
Besides a discussion on terrorism, Pakistan had sought the inclusion of two additional points in the agenda – a review on the progress on decisions taken in Ufa regarding the release of fishermen, facilitating religious tourism and restoring peace along the Line of Control; and exploration of the modalities for discussions on other outstanding issues, including Kashmir, Sir Creek and Siachen.
After NSA-level meet cancellation, military talks in doldrums
After the cancellation of NSA-level talks, proposed meetings between top military officials of India and Pakistan are now unlikely, a media report said on Monday. Pakistan cancelled the talks on Saturday after India clearly said that it would not allow a meeting with Kashmiri separatist leaders and talks will only focus on terrorism. The Express Tribune said that with the NSA talks called off due to differences over the agenda as well as Pakistan?s invitation to Kashmiri Hurriyat leaders, the meetings between Director General Military Operations (DGMOs) as well as heads of Pakistan Rangers and Border Security Force are uncertain. The paper quoted an official as saying that the Ufa agreement has now become “controversial” and “irrelevant” as a result of cancellation of the NSA-level talks. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in their meeting in the Russian city of Ufa last month had agreed on meetings between DGMOs and heads of Pakistan Rangers and BSF.
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