Says dates for dialogue being worked out
ISLAMABAD: The new Indian High Commissioner, Gautam Bambawaly, in his first official statement on Monday insisted that dates for the foreign secretary-level talks were still being worked out and the talks were certainly not conditional to the Pathankot airbase attack investigations.
As bilateral relations between Pakistan and India appear to be on hold with investigations into the Pathankot airbase terrorist attack turning stone cold, both sides nevertheless maintain that foreign secretary-level talks will take place and are not being held hostage to the Pathankot probe.
Islamabad is also silent on sending a special investigation team (SIT) to India and both sides appear to be acting on an agreed script and surprisingly no rhetoric is to be heard either.Last week, the spokesmen at both the Foreign Offices in Islamabad and India had maintained that both the foreign secretaries and the national security advisers were in touch with each other.
The spokesman in Islamabad had pointed out, “As to the foreign secretary level talks, both the sides understand that dialogue is the only way to resolve the outstanding issues between the two countries. Both sides are in contact to finalise the dates for the foreign secretary level talks.”
In fact, the Indian spokesman went a step further to say that at the official level, at least Pakistan has not rubbished the evidence provided by India related to the attack. “We will go by the official channel of communication on this subject, which has been between the two national security advisers (NSAs). And whatever emerges from their conversation will be the basis for us to proceed,” he responded to a query.
Actually, it was an Indian journalist who, after her meeting with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, wrote that she was told in Islamabad that Jaish-e-Muhammad chief Masood Azhar had disappeared and the authorities were trying to find him.
This did not collaborate with Pakistan’s position where at the ministerial level it was stated that Masood Azhar was in “protective custody”.
The Hindu reported that the National Investigation Agency had decided to preserve the bodies of the four terrorists killed in an encounter at the Pathankot airbase for an “indefinite period” as it makes preparations to hand over their photographs to Pakistan.
The bodies have been kept in deep freezers under “police protection.” They would be preserved till their identities are established, a senior government official said.The spokesman in New Delhi reiterated what Bambawalay said when he responded, “The two foreign secretaries are independently in touch, the two NSAs are independently in touch. If there are any further developments, we will let you know.”
About the special investigation team that Pakistan proposed to send to India, the spokesman responded, “I have said even earlier that this was a proposal that had come from Pakistan. After that, they have to firm up this proposal. If they say that this SIT is coming, and it is coming under a particular legal procedure, we will see.”
The Indian spokesman, while commenting on an interview by General Musharraf who landed in hospital immediately after it, said, “I think General Musharraf’s admission of the ISI’s involvement in terrorist activities in India speaks for itself and I think it reinforces once again the need for stopping support to terrorism by state actors in our region. And you know this is coming from someone who has held the highest office in Pakistan.”
No comments:
Post a Comment