Secretary-level talks
Demand for Indian consular access to Yadav rejected
ISLAMABAD: While Pakistan and India on Tuesday agreed that they would remain in touch to take the bilateral relationship forward, Islamabad called for an early commencement of the comprehensive dialogue and expressed the confidence that the goodwill generated by the recent high-level contacts will pave the way towards this end.
However, insisting on progress on the Pathankot attack investigation, India did not appear to be in a hurry to commence the dialogue process and instead its foreign secretary emphasized the need for an “early and visible progress” on the investigation.
Pakistan Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry called on his Indian counterpart S Jaishanker at the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi where the two sides remained engaged for nearly two hours and all issues of concern to both sides were raised.
Chaudhry was on a day-long visit to attend the Senior Officials Meeting of the Heart of Asia-Istanbul Process, but the headlines throughout the day remained focused on the foreign secretaries meeting.
“The meeting between the Pakistan and Indian foreign secretaries provided a useful opportunity to exchange views on recent developments in bilateral context,” said Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit.
The Foreign Office spokesman here tweeted issues raised by Chaudhry while New Delhi issued a statement at the conclusion of the meeting.“Kashmir remains a core issue that requires a just solution under the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions and wishes of the people of the valley,” Aizaz Chaudhry was quoted as telling Jaishanker.
Pakistan’s concerns come at a time when on Tuesday the Indian parliament was the scene of several opposition members demanding to know from the Modi government what it proposed to do to quell the unrest in the Valley.
According to the spokesman, as expected the issue of Indian RAW spy Kulbhushan Yadav was also raised by Chaudhry and he expressed concern over the RAW’s involvement in subversive activities in Pakistan.
Yadav was arrested from Balochistan in March and in a video released by the ISPR, he confessed to his involvement in terrorism related activities in Karachi and Balochistan.“Mr. Jaishanker firmly rebutted the allegations of India’s involvement in Balochistan or other areas. In this context, he asked which spy agency would put their agent in the field with their own passport and without a visa,” an official Indian source told the Indian media.
India also pressed for immediate consular access to Kulbhushan, the former naval officer, who it claimed was ‘abducted’ and taken to Pakistan. Pakistan, however, rejected the demand for consular access to Kulbhushan.
The FO spokesman added that Chaudhry also conveyed Pakistan’s concerns over the environment created in India for the release of the Samjhauta Express attack suspects and registered his protest for not sharing the investigation reports on the incident in which 42 Pakistanis had lost their lives.
Jaishanker meanwhile according to his ministry clearly conveyed that Pakistan cannot be in denial on the impact of terrorism on the bilateral relationship.“Terrorist groups based in Pakistan targeting India must not be allowed to operate with impunity,” he said.
Jaishanker also asked Pakistan to look into the Mumbai case trial and the issue of the listing of JeM leader Masood Azhar in the UN 1267 Sanctions Committee was also raised.“The discussions also covered humanitarian issues, including those pertaining to fishermen and prisoners, and people-to-people contacts including religious tourism,” added the Indian statement.