Ghulam Nabi Azad says Govt. unclear on NSA talks

Srinagar, Aug. 22: Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Saturday said the NDA Government does not have a clear agenda ahead of the NSA-level talks in New Delhi.

He expressed his doubts about the success of the NSA talks between India and Pakistan, as the government is not ready with the agenda.

“How can the dialogue happen when both countries have separate agendas,” asked Azad.

“Even as the back channels normally get ready with a detailed plan before the NSA level talks, but this time, it seems the channels haven’t discussed the issues,” he added.

Azad also said that “Both countries must have a common meeting point where there are no conflicts. But here both seem to have no common point of understanding.”

He said that during the UPA Government, it always wanted talks with Pakistan to continue, but the BJP always differed and said, ‘talks and terror can’t go together’.

“The ceasefire violations have gone up the local recruitment for the militancy is going up, and terror attacks have gone up. So, how can they go ahead with the talks now?” he asked.

Commenting on the detention of separatist leader Shabbir Shah in New Delhi, Azad said, “I don’t value the detention of separatist leaders, but they should have discussed it earlier.”

“This is a failure of both the Indian and Pakistani Governments,” he added. (ANI)