All issues including Kashmir to be discussed: Sartaj

ISLAMABAD: Adviser to PM on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said that sensitive issues between Pakistan and India were best discussed away from the glare of the media.
He expressed these views while talking to ‘The News’ on Saturday.
As ‘The News’ reported on Friday, it was in May 2014 in New Delhi that both the sides had toyed with the idea of moving away from the structured composite dialogue to deal with all outstanding issues and rather move forward with Modi style “limited engagements”.
The fears expressed last year were that if Pakistan also agreed to this manner then Jammu and Kashmir would be off the radar or given low priority. Aziz had hinted in Delhi in May 2014 that, “The (peace process) agenda has to be updated and restructured. The entire process has to be reviewed”.
This appears to have happened on Friday at Ufa where terrorism, Mumbai trial case and border disputes were high on the agenda with no mention of Kashmir.
Aziz who had reached home at midnight from Ufa, where he was present during the hour-long meeting between Nawaz Sharif and Narendra Modi, says both the sides entered the meeting with intention to restore dialogue and find ways and means for future engagement.
“You will agree that Kashmir, Sir Creek, Siachen Glacier are among some of the sensitive issues being tackled by both the sides.
Back channel diplomacy is one option open to us that I feel would be more suitable to discuss these issues. Also there is more flexibility in the back channel form of diplomacy to discuss sensitive issues”, he said.
Aziz wondered why there was so much fuss over the content of the meeting in Pakistan where there were loud complains of Kashmir not being raised, and pointed to the joint statement which he read out.
“As I said we went into the meeting with a desire to restore the dialogue. If you look at the joint statement it is clear that we are saying,
“They agreed that India and Pakistan have a collective responsibility to ensure peace and promote development. To do so, they are prepared to discuss all outstanding issues. Now amongst these ‘outstanding’ issues are Kashmir, Sir Creek and Siachen Glacier”, he pointed out.
To a query he said that Friday’s meeting went a long way in lowering tensions.
According to the joint statement, Sartaj Aziz is expected to meet soon with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval to discuss all issues connected to terrorism.
It is yet to be decided whether it will be the two NSA’s who will tackle the sensitive issues through the back channel diplomacy or whether both countries will appoint special interlocutors for the task.
In the past especially during the Pervez Musharraf regime, Dubai was one of the locations for back channel diplomacy, and there was understandably good progress made on Kashmir.
Sartaj Aziz, later talking to state-run TV, said that there were some light moments also during the Nawaz-Modi meeting.
“Modi complained about Kashmiris in the valley waving Pakistani flag. Nawaz responded by saying, “Well, if you want we will give some people here Indian flags!” There was laughter after this.
Aziz added that the declining relationship had been arrested and this meeting went a long way in stabilising relations.
Modi also brought up the sadness in India when the Army Public School terror attack took place and said that all Indian schools observed minutes of silence to remember Pakistani students.