India will have to take initiative for Nawaz-Modi meeting: Sartaj

ISLAMABAD: Adviser to Prime Minister on National Security Sartaj Aziz has said that India will have to take the initiative for a meeting between Nawaz Sharif and Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
“Our position is very clear. India called off the NSA-level dialogue last month and the request for any meeting must come from it. India has to take the initiative,” Sartaj Aziz said in an interview with the Hindustan Times published on Wednesday.
He said Pakistan will not have a conditional meeting with India in New York. Aziz said Pakistan wanted a discussion with India on all outstanding issues, including Kashmir.
Aziz confirmed that Islamabad had not received any request from New Delhi for a meeting on the sidelines of the UNGA.
To a question if a meeting between the two leaders was likely, Aziz said: “Both Modi and Sharif are likely to be staying at the same hotel in New York and officials do not rule out a chance meeting between them.”
However, the newspaper quoted Aziz as saying that Pakistan would continue to meet the Hurriyat leaders and added that even people in India were questioning their government on its rigid stance.
The August 24 talks between Aziz and his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval were cancelled after Pakistan’s High Commissioner in New Delhi Abdul Basit invited the Kashmiri leaders to a reception.
This was the second time the Pak-India dialogue process derailed since Sharif attended Modi’s swearing-in ceremony in May 2014.
Modi and Sharif had a breakthrough meeting in the Russian city of Ufa three months ago when they decided on a way forward but differing interpretations of the joint statement soon led the NSA-level talks to cancellation.
The Hindustan Times said while Pakistan insists the two prime ministers agreed to discuss all the outstanding issues, India maintains that the joint statement clearly outlined that the NSAs were to only take up matters related to terrorism.