Pakistan People’s Party Vice President Senator Sherry Rehman on Saturday expressed dismay at the regression in developments in the NSA-level talks between Pakistan and India, and said “India should not stifle progress on bilateral talks by changing the rules of engagement”.
“If there was some miscommunication between the two countries at Ufa, it has surely been corrected.”
“India is setting new preconditions for talks. This is neither helpful for India or Pakistan. Smart diplomacy is not about such narrow windows for engagement,” she said.
The Hurriyat meeting, the actual issue of contention in India, said Rehman, is a routine meeting that Pakistan refuses to take dictation on.
“India has continually accused Pakistan of orchestrating terror attacks within its territory,” said Rehman, adding, “yet Pakistan has continually expressed willingness to talk despite, and because, of such allegations.”
India reiterated today that terror and talks cannot go hand in hand nor can talks go on in an atmosphere of terror.
Commenting on that, she said, “This is plain old coercive diplomacy, and it won’t work. Now, unfortunately a question mark over the fate of talks has emerged, as it did the previous year, only when the news of the NSA’s meeting with the Hurriyat was announced. Why should the Kashmiris legitimate aspirations go un-addressed? Why should Pakistan not meet with them as per tradition? ”
Reiterating reservations her party had communicated shortly after the Ufa joint statement, Rehman said, “While we have always supported a constructive peace process, it should be apparent now why we were stressing that the joint statement should have reflected Pakistan’s concerns clearly and precisely too.”
“The PPP has time and again reiterated that maintaining an uninterruptable dialogue is not predicated on accepting only one sides concerns and Indian belligerence is shrinking the space the space for peace constituencies, both with policy stakeholders and, more crucially, in the wider public discourse in Pakistan,” said Rehman.
