NSA talks: India and Pakistan playing 'long distance verbal kabbadi', says Congress

New Delhi: Congress leader and former union minister Manish Tewari on Sunday said that both India and Pakistan were playing a "long distance verbal Kabbadi match" before finagling deciding not to go ahead with the national security advisor-level talks that were scheduled to be held in New Delhi on August 24.

"Pakistan and India were not indulging in a dialogue. They were playing a long distance verbal 'Kabaddi' match," Tewari told ANI.

Read: Pakistan blinks first, cancels NSA-level talks with India

He further stated, "The only gainer out of this whole process (collapsed NSA talks) has been the Hurriyat, which has got undeserved publicity."

Read: Situation on border to worsen after cancellation of NSA-level talks

Tewari was commenting a day after both India and Pakistan traded verbal volleys and disagreements over what they would agree to talk about during the proposed national security advisor-level talks that were scheduled to be held on August 24 in New Delhi.

Read: 'Disappointed' that India-Pakistan talks called off, says US

However, in a late night decision on Saturday, the Government of Pakistan issued an official statement in which it said that it was withdrawing from the talks because of what it called India's preconditions for holding them, as well as blaming India for giving a "concocted" twist to a couple of significant issues that are of mutual importance to both nations.