File Photo: BJP President Amit Shah addressing a rally
By calling off the scheduled Foreign Secretary talks, the Narendra Modi Government has sent out a message to Pakistan that bilateral dialogue cannot be held if it continues to engage separatists in Kashmir vis-a-vis India, BJP President Amit Shah said in Hyderabad today.
"As it does always, Pakistan sent an invitation to separatists (ahead of foreign secretary-level talks). No government had the courage to stop that. The Modi government sent a message to Pakistan that if you want to talk to separatists, you can't talk to India. I can proudly say that only a BJP Prime Minister can do that," he said.
On Monday, Abdul Basit, the Pakistani High Commissioner to India, had ignored India's warning to cancel consultations with leaders of the Hurriyat Conference, which groups moderate and hardline factions of separatists in Kashmir. That evening, India said it would not attend talks between the Foreign Secretaries of the two countries, which had been set to take place on August 25 in Islamabad.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin denounced the Pakistani envoy's meetings with the separatists as an "unacceptable" attempt to "interfere" in domestic affairs.
Pakistan's Foreign Affairs Ministry has defended the decision to consult the Kashmiri leaders, saying it is a "longstanding practice" prior to talks between the two nations to "facilitate meaningful discussions on the issue of Kashmir".
In May, after winning the national election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited Pakistani premier Nawaz Sharif to his swearing-in ceremony in Delhi. On his first day in office, Mr Modi met with Mr Sharif in a session that focused on improving bilateral ties.
The meeting of the Foreign Secretaries was set up as one of the consequences of that strategy.