NSA talks a good beginning: Jammu & Kashmir CM

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohmmad Sayeed today termed as a “good beginning” the talks between National Security Advisors of India and Pakistan and said the two sides appeared to be on a reconciliation path to bridge the “huge trust deficit”. “It is welcome step and good beginning. We hope for success,” he told reporters here on the sidelines of a function at government hospital in Gandhinagar. 

Appreciating that the process of reconciliation has started without any noise, the Chief Minister said, “I feel that there is need to prepare the ground. There is a huge trust deficit. To bridge the trust deficit, the preliminary meeting like the NSAs have met and foreign secretaries have met,” he said. The CM said he couldn’t jump the gun to say some big thing is going to happen. “It is an evolutionary process. It takes time and it cannot be done in one go. We hope for success of these talks,” Sayeed said.

In a sudden breakthrough, National Security Advisors of India and Pakistan held talks in Bangkok on Sunday on a wide range of issues including terrorism and Jammu and Kashmir, and agreed to take forward the “constructive” engagement. NSA Ajit Doval and his Pakistani counterpart Nasir Janjua also discussed peace and security and other issues including tranquility along the LoC. 

However, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah sought explanation from BJP whether India was “made to talk Kashmir” during the meeting between the National Security Advisors of the two countries in Bangkok as there was no mention of it when their prime ministers had met in Ufa.

“If Pakistan was made to talk terror, was India also made to talk Kashmir since J&K had found no mention in Ufa (sic)?” Omar wrote on Twitter. Abdullah was reacting to BJP’s statement in which the party had yesterday claimed: “The follow up of Ufa talks has happened. Pakistan has been made to talk terror, which they refused so far.”

He asked BJP to make it clear as to what was discussed about Jammu and Kashmir during the talks in the Thai capital.

“Perhaps now Mr (Nalin) Kohli will care to make his party’s position clear on what was discussed about J&K (sic),” he tweeted.

Abdullah’s comment came two days after the BJP spokesperson had asked National Conference to clear its stand on Jammu and Kashmir after senior NC leader and Abdullah’s uncle Mustafa Kamal had said “Kashmir was destined to get Independence”.

On the talks at various levels between India and Pakistan, Abdullah said it is “like cabs when it’s raining-don’t get one for ages and then suddenly 3-4 come around all at the same time.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had met his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif at COP21 Summit in Paris last week, which was followed by the NSA and foreign secretary level talks in Bangkok yesterday. 

The foreign ministers of the two countries are expected to meet later this week in in Islamabad where Sushma Swaraj is scheduled to attend a conference in Afghanistan.