Indo-Pak peace talks collapse hours before start

Peace talks between India and Pakistan has collapsed hours before they were scheduled to start, as the nuclear-armed rivals were unable to overcome deep-rooted mutual mistrust. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistan's Nawaz Sharif agreed to the talks during their brief meeting last month. But the countries failed at the last minute to agree the agenda for the meeting of their national security advisers (NSAs), due to start today (August 13). The prospects of the long-awaited talks had been clouded in recent weeks by a series of militant attacks in India and border skirmishes in Kashmir. India's external affairs minister, Sushma Swaraj, said the talks would not take place if Pakistan's NSA Sartaj Aziz did not drop plans to meet separatists from the disputed region of Kashmir. Swaraj said there had been 91 ceasefire violations since the meeting between the premiers in Moscoe in July. The divergence of talking points was one of the main stumbling blocks: Indian official sources had said they wanted to provide proof that militants were getting support from over its western border, while Pakistan wanted the talks to be broader and include issues on Kashmir. Pakistan also accused India of imposing "preconditions". Pakistan earlier said it was never expecting the talks to lead to any breakthrough and the purpose was only to reduce tensions between the neighbours. Pakistan's NSA Sartaj Aziz said "talks cannot be held on the basis of the preconditions set by India."
"We have come to the conclusion that the proposed NSA level talks between the two countries would not serve any purpose," Pakistan's foreign ministry said in a statement. Earlier on Saturday, Aziz had said that by setting conditions India had "virtually" cancelled the talks. India called Pakistan's decision "unfortunate". India and Pakistan have fought three wars since becoming separate nations in 1947, two of them over the Himalayan region of Kashmir, which both claim in full but rule in part. New Delhi has for years accused Pakistan of backing separatists in India's part of Kashmir. Pakistan denies the allegations, according to a news agency.
- biplab