Channels with Pakistan open: Centre

For talks to be meaningful there must be an end to cross-border terror, govt. tells MPs panel

The government is in regular contact with Pakistan, but any meaningful dialogue would depend on an end to terrorism and cross-border violence, the Ministry of External Affairs told the Parliamentary standing committee on External Affairs, according to a report released on Friday.

“The government has maintained the channels of communications open with Pakistan, including through respective diplomatic missions, and regular contacts between the border guarding forces on both sides,” said a reply from the Ministry quoted in the action-taken report by the government on the committee’s 16th report on “Indo-Pak Relations”.

“At the same time, it has been made clear to Pakistan that a meaningful structured Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue would be possible only in an environment free from terror and violence,” the report added.

The term “including” is significant, as the reply came amid news reports in Delhi and Islamabad that National Security Adviser Ajit Doval met his Pakistani counterpart, Gen. (Retd.) Nasir Janjua, in Bangkok on December 26. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a senior Pakistani official confirmed to

The Hindu that the meeting had occurred, while the government in New Delhi had not yet denied reports.

The channel of communications between the two NSAs was set up during a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then-PM of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif when they met on the sidelines of the Paris climate change summit, and the NSAs had subsequently met at Bangkok’s Novotel Hotel in December 2015. Although the Pathankot attack in January 2015 had derailed dialogue between India and Pakistan, the NSAs are understood to have been in touch over the telephone regularly, and frequently through the High Commissioners in Delhi and Islamabad, especially on issues relating to the spike in ceasefire violations, the Pathankot attack investigation and the case of Kulbhushan Jadhav.

Challenges to ties

While no mention was made on Mr. Jadhav or the treatment his mother and wife received in the 82-page report, it contains several references to the challenges to better ties between India and Pakistan, including the rise in firing at the LoC and International Border, infiltration, and support to terror groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad and Hizbul Mujahideen.

The Ministry said the government had been successful in ensuring that the groups had been condemned in statements by the BRICS, the U.S. in its South Asia policy statement and the EU and Japan in joint statements with India.

The government made special mention of the UN terror finance watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force where Pakistan was pulled up in November 2017 for allowing the LeT and affiliates like Jamaat-ud-Dawa and Falah-i-Insaniyat to access funds. The report, including replies from the Ministry was tabled in the Rajya Sabha and presented in the Lok Sabha on Friday. It was prepared by Congress MP and Chairman of the Committee Shashi Tharoor.