Modi-Nawaz meeting: an eight-minute phone call, an Iftar invite to Hurriyat on hold
INP

NEW DELHI: It was an eight-minute phone conversation between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on June 16, before the start of Ramazan, which set the ball rolling for their meeting in the Russian city of Ufa on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit.

The Sunday Express quoting Indian sources said that the idea of having an NSA-level dialogue mechanism was first suggested by Nawaz Sharif in May 2014 when he had come for Modi’s swearing-in ceremony. While Pakistan suggested a more “top-down” approach in handling “crucial” issues, India preferred a “bottom-up”. But a year later, the Indian establishment felt a dialogue between the NSAs on “counter-terrorism” would be able to address New Delhi’s concerns on the issue in a “more effective” manner.

Also, sources said that keeping 26/11 attack accused Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi away from public gaze and on a tight leash has been one of the key understandings reached between the two sides. This helped in smoothening matters between the two countries and holding a meeting of the two prime ministers. As their eight-minute conversation drew to a close, Modi told him: “Aasha karta hoon ki hamaari jaldi bhet hogi (Hope we will meet soon).” Sharif replied, “Inshallah, zaroor mulaqat hogi” (God willing, we will surely meet).

Sources said a few days later, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar had a meeting with Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit to follow-up on the conversation between the prime ministers. Since Ramazan had started, Jaishankar’s office gave Basit the flexibility to choose the time — since the days were hot and the Pakistan envoy was fasting. When they met in the third week of June, Basit came to South Block around 5 pm. They had a half-hour discussion on “how to take things forward”.

While Jaishankar kept his line of communication open with Basit, the Indian High Commissioner in Islamabad TCA Raghavan was in touch with Pakistan Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhary. Basit was also in touch with NSA Ajit Doval and Raghavan kept his channels open with Pakistan NSA Sartaj Aziz. While Pakistan wanted the NSA-level dialogue to take up “critical” issues “crucial” to the relationship, a suggestion was made if Kashmir could also be brought under the ambit. But the Indian side made it clear that the Indian NSA was best placed to discuss subjects like “counter-terrorism” — since all intelligence and security establishment report to him — and the Kashmir issue was being dealt by the foreign secretaries in the dialogue process.

When it was settled that the NSAs will talk only on “counter-terrorism”, a protocol issue came up. That was of the disparity in rank of the two NSAs. While Sartaj Aziz — who is advisor to the PM on national security and foreign affairs — enjoys a cabinet minister’s rank, Doval is a secretary-rank official. In that sense, Aziz is both Pakistan’s foreign minister as well as its NSA, and therefore outranks Doval. The Pakistan side, which was keen on the dialogue mechanism to be instituted, conveyed that they were willing to overlook this protocol issue, and the two NSAs could meet without glitches. They are now expected to meet in a month’s time.

Parallel to this conversation, the Indian side — through its intelligence agencies in occupied Kashmir — learnt that Basit had invited Hurriyat leaders for an Iftar dinner on July 4, an annual feature where the Pakistan envoy invites notables from the Muslim community. Since this could become an issue before a meeting between the two prime ministers, the Pakistan High Commission told the invitees, including the Hurriyat leaders, on June 25 that the Iftar has been “postponed” as there had been deaths in Karachi and it would not be proper to hold an Iftar party. The Indian side moved in with a proposal for a meeting between the two prime ministers — Raghavan approached the Pakistan Foreign Ministry on July 3.

Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk

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