India has pulled out from scheduled talks on Tuesday between the investigative agencies of the two countries.
India has deferred scheduled talks with its neighbour
NEW DELHI: Unhappy over allegations that Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence may have had a hand in the suicide attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul, India has pulled out from scheduled talks on Tuesday between the investigative agencies of the two countries.
The meetings, though not part of the composite dialogue, flowed from the peace process which had gathered steam since the democratic government settled down in Islamabad. While New Delhi hasn’t formally announced calling off the talks, it has neither given any reason for the decision. Privately however, senior officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, acknowledged that it was related to the Kabul investigations.
Soon after the blast, which killed four Indians, the Karzai government had indicated the involvement of a foreign intelligence agency, without naming the ISI directly. India’s national security advisor had admitted as much to a television channel. However he refused to repeat his allegations at a weekend news conference in the capital.
CBI director Vijay Shankar was to meet his Pakistani counterpart from the Federal Investigative Agency. These talks were designed to familiarise Indian and Pakistani officials with the procedures adopted by their respective agencies. But the larger goal was to interact at various levels to counter decades of mistrust between officials of the two countries.
But for now, India wants to signal that it is unhappy with Pakistan and will not go ahead with the scheduled meet. However, the more important bilateral meeting on cross LoC confidence building measurers are to be held on schedule on July 18.
The teams would meet in Islamabad to discuss the launch of a Muzaffarabad-Srinagar truck service across the LoC. The joint secretary-level talks would also discuss other ideas and proposals to enhance people-to-people contacts and trade across Kashmir.
Pakistan’s foreign secretary’s visit to New Delhi on the 19 for talks with Shiv Shankar Menon on July 21 and 22 are also on track.
(With inputs by Amir Mir)
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