The thaw between India and Pakistan in Ufa does not seem to last long, as now there's cloud over National Security Advisor (NSA)-level talks between the two countries.
While India has raised strong objection to Pakistan NSA Sartaj Aziz's invite to separatist leaders for talks ahead of NSA meet, the neighbouring country has said that India's stand on the issue is unacceptable.
According to sources, Pakistan is unhappy with India's stance on not allowing Aziz to meet separatists. They further said that the Pakistan Army is not in favour of the talks as there is a sense that Nawaz Sharif made a mistake by agreeing to it only to discuss terror.
Sources also said that Pakistan is likely to ask India to postpone NSA-level talks by a day and reschedule it for Monday.
Meanwhile, Sharif chaired a high-level meeting in Pakistan, attended by country's Army chief Raheel Sharif, Aziz and ISI chief.
In New Delhi, NSA Ajit Doval met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
Earlier, sources had said that all options were open to the Indian government if Pakistan did not heed its advice of not meeting with Hurriyat leaders.
Tweeting over the issue, Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Vikas Swaroop on Friday said, "India has advised Pakistan yesterday that it would not be appropriate for Mr Sartaz Aziz to meet with Hurriyat representatives in India. Such a meeting would not be in keeping with the spirit and intent of the Ufa understanding to jointly work to combat terrorism."
He also added that India has sought a confirmation from Pakistan over the proposed agenda for the NSA level talks that it has conveyed to Pakistani on 18 Aug 2015.
Meanwhile, Pakistan government sources claim that Sartjaz Aziz will raise the Kashmir issue in talks even though it is not part of the agenda.
Sources say that the Indian government is in a fix. Though the separatist leaders were briefly detained on Thursday, the government is unlikely to detain them further. According to sources, Peoples Democratic party leader and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister's daughter Mehbooba Mufti stepped in and forced the release of the separatists on Thursday.
Pakistan Foreign office had said in Islamabad that consultations with Hurriyat leaders were a "routine matter" and a "long standing practice". The Pakistani invitation, which is seen as yet another "provocation" by Indian side, comes after persistent ceasefire violations as well as two terror attacks in recent weeks in Gurdaspur and Udhampur which many observers see as Pakistan army's opposition to any discussions with India.
India had in 2014 unilaterally called off Foreign Secretary-level talks after the Pakistan High Commissioner in India had held "consultations" with the Kashmiri separatist leaders on the eve of the FS-level meeting in Islamabad.
Significantly, Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit had last week said his country will not "abandon" the Kashmiris' "legitimate struggle for freedom", stressing that to have normal and cooperative relationship with India it was necessary to settle the decades-old dispute.
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