Sartaj will discuss only Kashmir — Pakistan

NEW DELHI/ISLAMABAD, MAY 29: Even as the Ministry of External Affairs was said to be “considering” Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s proposal yesterday to send Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz for talks with Jaswant Singh in New Delhi next week, Pakistan today pushed its agenda, saying Aziz was going, and that it wanted Kashmir to be the sole issue at the discussions.Pakistan Information Minister Mushahid Hussain, at a press conference in Islamabad, said the tension on the Line of Control had put the issue of Kashmir on the “front burner”.

He also said that Pakistan was awaiting an Indian response to its offer of holding foreign minister-level talks in New Delhi.

In India, the MEA seems to be veering around to the view that it “may be better” to hold the talks at the foreign-secretary level, since that is more manageable.

Highly placed sources said “the rationale for Aziz’s visit does not exist, as the cause (the infiltration by Pakistan) must be addressed first.”He said, “the dialogue withIndia should be dialogue of issues and not dialogue of non-issues,” indicating Pakistan was seeking to revert to its known stand of demanding that Kashmir be delinked from other outstanding issues with India.