ISLAMABAD: A meeting between the civil-military leadership has finalised the agenda of the upcoming national security adviser-level talks scheduled to be held on August 23 in New Delhi, sources said.
Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif called on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif at the PM House in Islamabad on Tuesday to deliberate on the proposed agenda. Officially, the PM House stated that “matters relating to the internal security situation of the country were discussed in the meeting”. However, sources said the agenda has been finalised. Some participants pushed for issues such as Samjhota Express bombing, Indian involvement in Balochistan and violations across the LoC to be discussed in an upfront manner with India. It was decided, however, that while these issues should be discussed, the focus should remain on the resumption of secretary-level talks.
The civil and military leadership discussed various options in this regard, sources said. Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director General Lt Gen Rizwan Akhtar, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz and Special Assistant Tariq Fatemi also attended the meeting. Other issues, including the country’s internal security, the Pur Aman Balochistan programme, law and order situation in Karachi and relations with the Afghan government after Afghan leaders’ recent outbursts, also came under discussion. The participants of the meeting hoped a recent meeting with Afghan leaders would give positive signals to them as Pakistan was already doing enough to curb terrorism.
Meanwhile, sources added, the civil-military leadership was warned about further attacks on government and security installations. The meeting agreed that only good intelligence could foil such attacks. During the meeting, the military leadership gave its input on the subject of Indian interference in the country and emphasised that Pakistan must present its viewpoint on core issues during the talks in a forceful manner. The meeting also decided to keep unprovoked Indian firing at the Line of Control (LoC) and Working Boundary and the killing of Pakistani civilians on the agenda of the upcoming meetings in New Delhi.