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New Delhi, India today announced that no meeting has been planned so far between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit to be held in Astana later this week.
“No meeting is scheduled either from their side or from ours,” External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said at a press conference on completion of three years of the government.
Speculation has been rife that since Modi and Sharif will be present in Astana, chances of a pull aside or an unscheduled meeting between the two is a possibility. India and Pakistan are to be admitted as full members of the SCO later this week and that will see both the PMs in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan.
The minister denied that India has been taking one step forward and two steps back as far as Pakistan was concerned. Swaraj was dismissive about the attention on Pakistan and said: “We don’t spend so much time, energy on Pakistan. For us, Pakistan is any other country.” Talks between the two nations remain suspended with tensions running high for more than a year now.
The minister also reiterated India’s position when it comes to talks with Pakistan and said there are three pillars which govern the talks. “We want to resolve all issues through dialogue; dialogue will be bilateral; and terror and talks can’t go simultaneously,” Swaraj said. In effect, putting the onus of talks on Pakistan since India claims that Pakistan is the sponsor of cross-border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.
“We are very clear, no third-party mediation in talks with Pakistan,” she said.
On the Kulbhushan Jadhav case which has seen the bilateral ties dip to a new low, the minister said: “As long as the case filed in the ICJ is not resolved, Jadhav can’t be given capital punishment.”
Swaraj, in response to a question that Pakistan is now threatening to take the Kashmir issue to the ICJ, said Kashmir was a bilateral issue and there was no way that Pakistan could take the matter to the ICJ. “Pakistan cannot take Kashmir issue to the ICJ. The Shimla agreement and Lahore declaration are very clear on Kashmir issue that it can only be resolved bilaterally. The two countries are bound by these bilateral agreements,” she added.
