Terror dossiers being prepared by India and Pakistan will dominate the August 23 talks between their national security advisers with Indian NSA Ajit Doval asking intelligence agencies to make a file on Pakistan’s role in the recent Gurdaspur and Jammu attacks, HT has learnt.
Doval and his Pakistani counterpart, Sartaj Aziz, will meet in New Delhi following last month’s agreement in Ufa, Russia between Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Nawaz Sharif to resume dialogue and discuss all issues connected to terrorism.
“We have been asked to prepare a comprehensive dossier that Pakistan cannot deny,” said an official involved with the preparations for the NSA-level meet.
Aziz, who is also Sharif’s adviser on foreign affairs and security, will come armed with what a Pakistani diplomat described as “India’s role in fomenting terror in Balochistan and Karachi’’.
The Gurdaspur attack on July 27, which left four policemen and three civilians dead, and the attack on a BSF convoy in Udhampur on August 5, in which two jawans were killed and Pakistani terrorist Mohammad Naveed alias Usman was captured alive, had cast a shadow over the dialogue process but New Delhi stuck to its offer of talks.
While reiterating India’s position that it needs to engage the Sharif government and also keeping the retaliation option open, an official said, "The talks stayed on track because the agenda is terror-specific."
{{/usCountry}}While reiterating India’s position that it needs to engage the Sharif government and also keeping the retaliation option open, an official said, "The talks stayed on track because the agenda is terror-specific."
{{/usCountry}}India believes it has a strong case and Doval is likely to flag concerns over Pakistan continuing to allow its soil to be used to export terror. GPS data recovered from the devices used by the terrorists in Gurdaspur, link them to Pakistan. Similarly, Naveed’s testimony is incriminating proof that points in Pakistan’s direction.
Apart from Gurdaspur and Jammu, Doval is expected to raise India’s concerns over the slow pace of the 26/11 trial and bail for Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the military commander responsible for co-ordinating the Mumbai attacks. Pakistan, in turn, is preparing a dossier of what it perceives as India’s role in fomenting trouble in Balochistan and Karachi as also the investigation into the 2007 blasts on the Samjhauta Express that killed its citizens. Aziz is also likely to raise the issue of bail to Aseemanand, an accused in the Samjhauta case.
The main challenge, however, for Doval and Aziz will be to keep the dialogue process going in the face of all the finger-pointing expected from both sides.
According to the Ufa agreement, the NSA talks are to be followed by a meeting of their director generals military operations and one between the director generals of the BSF and Pakistani Rangers.
Read:Sartaj Aziz to visit India on August 23 for talks with NSA Doval