India was open to NSA-level talks: Sources

New Delhi: Sources indicated India had been ‘open’ to NSA-level talks even in New York recently, but that it was Pakistan which didn’t take any initiative as it was not interested.

 

Official sources said while India was ‘open’ to any meeting of the two countries’ NSAs on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly last month, Pakistan was not ‘that open, and that is why it did not happen’.

 

“A lot of what has not gone (after Ufa is)... because of Pakistan’s domestic politics... They are also having some disturbance.

 

“There are non-elected players in play. The dynamics of it is both complicated and less transparent... The issue is there has to be a recognition that terrorism cannot be an instrument of statecraft, and you cannot say it was only a Gurdaspur attack, why are you overreacting for an attack on the BSF, so why are you overreacting.

 

“It cannot be a routine way. There has to be recognition that non-practice of terrorism is central to the betterment of the relationship. If they are in denial of that (as an issue). One country cannot resort to terrorism as a way of pressuring the other. It is not asking for too much,” a source added.

 

On Pakistani leaders meeting Kashmiri separatist Hurriyat leaders, the sources said India had an issue if the manner of consultation or discussions was done in a way where they are projected as a third party.