BackIndia-Pakistan peace process is suspended: Abdul Basit
Pakistan high commissioner to India Abdul Basit says no meetings scheduled between the two nations and J&K dispute is root cause of mutual distrust
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New Delhi: In a setback to the nascent India-Pakistan peace process launched four months ago, Pakistan high commissioner to India Abdul Basit on Thursday said that talks had been suspended. Basit was also non-committal about a visit to Pakistan by India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is probing the 2 January attack on the Pathankot airbase.
In a seeming response to India’s stance that terrorism was the key issue in the talks with Pakistan, Basit emphasized the centrality of the Kashmir dispute stating that “it is the Jammu and Kashmir dispute that is the root cause of mutual distrust and other bilateral issues."
“Therefore, its fair and just resolution, as per the aspirations of the people of Jammu and Kashmir, is imperative. Attempts to put it on the back burner will be counterproductive," he said of the region divided between India and Pakistan but claimed by both in full.
Basit’s comments come after a visit to India last week by Pakistan’s Joint Investigative Team (JIT), which is probing the Pathankot attack that India blames on Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed.
India had indicated that the resumption of peace talks announced by Indian external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj during a visit to Pakistan in December would depend on how Pakistan proceeded with the investigation into the Pathankot raid.
When asked about when the foreign secretaries of the two countries would meet to chalk out the dates and sequence of the “bilateral comprehensive dialogue", Basit said there were no meetings scheduled between the two countries.
“I think, at present, it is suspended. Let’s see if we are able to commence the process," he added.
According to Indian foreign ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup, the Pakistani high commissioner’s comments were at variance with the remarks of the Pakistan foreign office spokesman who said that the two “countries are in contact with each other and it has been reiterated from both sides that modalities are being worked out".
Swaraj’s announcement of the resumption of talks in December came after a two-year break in the dialogue process, started in 2011. It came after a surprise meeting between the national security advisors of India and Pakistan in Bangkok in December and was followed by a visit to Pakistan by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 25 December. The visit, which lasted a few hours, was seen as hugely symbolic and underlining Modi’s commitment to stay invested in the peace process.
But the Pathankot attack interrupted the newly resurrected process.
When asked about the possibility of India’s NIA visiting Pakistan to carry on the Pathankot probe, Basit said: “The whole investigation is not about the question of reciprocity in my view. It is more about extending cooperation or our two countries cooperating with each other to get to the bottom of the incident."
This was contested by Swarup who said that the two countries had agreed to the JIT’s visit “on the basis of reciprocity".
In his opening remarks, Basit said that “cherry-picking" issues would not work—a reference to India giving priority to terrorism over Kashmir, which Pakistan considers a priority.
“What we need is to engage uninterruptedly, comprehensively and meaningfully," he said. The comments come a day after foreign secretary S. Jaishankar said that since the Narendra Modi government took office in May 2014, India had put terrorism at the centre of all dialogue with Pakistan.
Basit also spoke about an alleged Indian spy arrested in Balochistan province by the Pakistani authorities last month. “The recent arrest of Kulbhushan Yadav in Pakistan irrefutably corroborates what Pakistan has been saying all along. We all are aware of those who seek to create unrest in Pakistan and destabilize the country... In the last one month, our authorities have arrested scores of terror operatives with foreign linkages," he said.
India has said that the detained man has no link with the government, though it has admitted that Yadav is an Indian national.
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