Pakistan Forgets Diplomatic Niceties As India Links Terrorism And Bilateral Relations

Pakistan is an incorrigible and errant juvenile. This was reinforced again today (Tuesday 26, April). Even as India’s Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar was holding talks with his Pakistani counterpart Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, Pakistan released a statement on the bilateral talks. This kind of out of protocol act is not known in international diplomatic circles.

The Pakistan High Commission released a statement even as the two officials were meeting and before the meeting ended.

The Pakistani statement didn’t mention the Pathankot terror attack once, but Chaudhry managed to tell India about his concern over Indian intelligence agency RAW’s alleged involvement in Balochistan and also about Kashmir remaining the core issue for his country.

India did show some spine and told Pakistan on Tuesday that it can’t be in denial about terrorism and terrorist groups in Pakistan targeting India.

Jaishankar said Pakistan can’t be in denial about the impact of terrorism on relations between the two countries.

“Terrorist groups based in Pakistan targeting India must not be allowed to operate with impunity,” Jaishankar said.

The two met on the sidelines of the annual Heart of Asia conference. In the 90-minute meeting Chaudhry was told that India wants early and visible progress in the Pathankot terror attack investigation.

Pakistan had been keen on a meeting between the two top diplomats to ensure that its Kashmir agenda did not appear as diluted, as India continued to underline the significance of terrorism in bilateral ties. It is well known that Pakistan army had not taken kindly to the meeting last year in Ufa between PM Narendra Modi and his counterpart Nawaz Sharif because of Sharif’s alleged failure to mention Kashmir upfront. The joint statement after that meeting had no specific mention of J&K, which was said to have upset Pakistan’s army chief Raheel Sharif.

“Another important bilateral (meeting) for Foreign Secretary as he meets with his Pakistan counterpart Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry,” MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted.

The Foreign Ministers of both nations met in November last year during the SAARC summit in Nepal. The talks between the two sides suffered a setback after the terror attack on Pathankot’s air base.