ISLAMABAD: The Indian government says that till Tuesday Pakistan had not confirmed a meeting in New Delhi between the National Security Advisers (NSAs) of both countries proposed for August 23-24. “So far we have not heard anything from Pakistan. The Pakistan Foreign Office will inform the Ministry of External Affairs through its High Commission in New Delhi. We are waiting and are hopeful that Pakistan will agree to these dates. Preparatory meetings have been held in New Delhi to organise these talks,” an official told The News. These meetings include one between NSA Ajit Doval and secretaries from the Ministry of External Affairs and the Home Ministry, the Indian media reported.The Monday’s meeting between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and COAS Raheel Sharif also touched upon the bilateral relations with India amongst other issues related to the foreign policy, but officials say here that no decision was taken to respond to New Delhi’s proposed dates. Tuesday also saw a tough message from the army chief after the corps commanders conference when he was quoted as saying after the state of readiness and vigil by troops along the Line of Control (LOC) was reviewed, “We are fully prepared to respond to entire spectrum of threat.” “There is no doubt that Nawaz Sharif is very keen that his NSA Sartaj Aziz attends this meeting which for him is very important and also something he had agreed to when he met his Indian counterpart,” says an official involved with the process. Tuesday saw another commitment made at Ufa when Pakistan released 163 Indian fishermen on Monday. “Pakistan has always held that the issue of prisoners in our respective countries is a humanitarian one and should be taken in that spirit. It is our hope that both countries will release all prisoners who have completed their sentences,” the spokesman at the Foreign Office said in a statement. Earlier, officials told The News that they were monitoring the situation on the LoC and Working Boundary and the continuous ceasefire violations and after assessing the situation would be able to respond to New Delhi. They added that the government would be assessing the continued violations of 2003 agreement on the Line of Control and also on the Working Boundary together where according to the ISPR, 55 incidents of ceasefire violations by the Indian troops have taken place since July. Meanwhile, the Punjab Home Minister Shuja Khanzada blamed RAW for its involvement in the Youhanabad bombing which had taken several lives. With no signs of ceasefire violations by India stopping and continuing even on Eid day and with Pakistan clearly saying that these violations were not allowing it to respond to proposed Indian dates, it remains to be seen if the two NSAs will meet this month.
