India finally confirmed on Thursday that National Security Advisor Ajit Doval met his Pakistani counterpart Lt Gen Nasser Khan Janjua (retd) in Bangkok on December 26, but denied that there was any deviation from its stand that "talks and terror cannot go together."
"Yes, I agree talks took place. I also agree that the issue is of terrorism. Talks on terror can go ahead," said Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar.
India remained non-committal over Doval's meeting for days. Kumar said the focus of the "operational-level talks" was "cross-border terror" and ways to ensure the elimination of terrorism from the region.
He implied that the NSA contacts in no way can be construed as resumption of normal bilateral dialogue process. "India and Pakistan have a dialogue process. However, there are other dialogue mechanisms that involve DGMOs and border forces. Similarly, the NSA-level engagement is part of operational-level talks. We have said terror and talks cannot go together, but talks on terror can definitely go ahead," Kumar said.
Kumar did not specify whether the meeting helped ease tensions, decreased ceasefire violations or terror incidents in Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistani forces violated ceasefire 724 times along the IB and the LoC till October, against 449 times in 2016.
As many as 12 civilians and 17 security personnel were killed in the firing from across the border till October. A total of 79 civilians and 67 security personnel were also injured in the firing.
In December 2015, both countries announced resumption of dialogue process, when External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj visited Islamabad to participate in the Heart of Asia conference. This was followed by PM Modi's unscheduled stopover at Lahore on Christmas Day while returning from Afghanistan. But the attack on the Pathankot military base on January 2, 2016, derailed the process.
Earlier in August 2015, then Pakistan NSA Sartaj Aziz had to cancel his visit to New Delhi after a full-blown confrontation over the Pakistan High Commission's invitation to Kashmiri separatist leaders.
The mechanism of a Comprehensive Composite Dialogue Process was evolved in May 1997, when, at Male, then Indian Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif identified eight contentious issues. In December 2015, Swaraj succeeded in dropping the word "composite" that makes progress and dialogue on all issues simultaneously mandatory. She insisted to hold "comprehensive " dialogue that de-linked progress and synchronized talks on all eight issues.
The NSAs have remained in touch via telephonic conversations. Soon after the Pathankot attack, Doval confronted his Pakistani counterpart with evidence that challenged Islamabad's claims of being unable to locate key suspects Kashif Jan and Shahid Latif who attacked the base.
The dialogue between the two NSAs has survived despite growing tensions between the two neighbouring nations. However, there was no word -officially or unofficially - from the India side till Thursday about the latest meeting.
The meeting, which appeared to be pre-decided, came two days after Indian death-row prisoner Kulbhushan Jadhav met with his family on December 25 in Islamabad.
The Jadhav-family meeting became the latest flashpoint in already strained Indo-Pak relations with Islamabad terming its decision to allow Jadhav's family to travel to Pakistan to meet him a humanitarian gesture and India accusing it of violating mutual understandings.
BANGKOK DIARY
- The meeting, which took place in Bangkok on December 26, came two days after Jadhav met with his family in Islamabad.
- In December 2015, both countries announced resumption of dialogue process. But the Pathankot attack in January 2016 derailed the process.
- Dialogue between the two NSAs has survived despite growing tensions among the two countries.
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