Islamabad: Pakistan today accused the Narendra Modi government of “sabotaging” the NSA-level talks with its “fanatic approach” and said its “negative attitude” was aimed at disrupting peace in the region.
Upping the ante a day after Pakistan called off talks between National Security Advisers Sartaj Aziz and Ajit Doval, Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said, “negative attitude of Modi government was to disrupt peace in the region,” state-run Radio Pakistan quoted him as saying.
In provocative remarks, he said, “India sabotaged the Pak-India talks scheduled to be held in New Delhi today due to its fanatic approach”.
Claiming that Pakistan was “serious” in holding the talks with India, he said this was the best way to resolve bilateral issues.
However, the “pre-conditions put by India for the talks were not acceptable to Pakistan”, Asif said. Pakistan had last night called off the NSA-level talks, hours after India made it clear that discussions on Kashmir and a meeting with separatists will not be acceptable to it.
Yesterday, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had given a virtual ultimatum to Pakistan to give a clear commitment by midnight that it would not go ahead with meeting the Kashmiri separatist leaders.
“There will be no talks,” Swaraj had said when asked what would happen if Pakistan did not accept the position outlined by her on separatists and Kashmir though she maintained these were not pre-conditions.
The Pakistani Defence Minister also said that Pakistan's armed forces are fully capable of protecting its frontiers and sovereignty of the country.
Asif alleged that India was attempting to weaken Pakistan's economy. He said Indian forces were violating the Line of Control and working boundary just to keep busy Pakistani armed forces.
