India cancels talks over Kashmir: What is PM Modi's new Pakistan policy?

Minutes after Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party leader Shabir Shah left the diplomatic enclave in Delhi’s Shanti Path area, the Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit received a call from foreign secretary Sujatha Singh. The decision had been executed instantly. Singh handed the message to Basit, the foreign secretary level talks scheduled for August 25 were now called off. The talks between Sujatha Singh and her Pakistani counterpart, Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry, would have been the first official-level meeting after Modi assumed office. The instant reaction offered a stark contrast to the government’s recent stoicism in the face of repeated ceasefire violations along the Line of Control that left Indian jawans injured. But while it appeared hasty, the decision was in fact a well-thought out and planned move from the Narendra Modi government. [caption id=“attachment_1545025” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Narendra Modi (right) shakes hands with Nawaz Sharif. AP file photo[/caption] According to a report in The Hindustan Times , Prime Minister Modi decided that his government would not stick to past convention and treat meetings between Hurriyat leaders and Pakistani government officials as non-events. Early on Monday morning, Modi reportedly took senior Cabinet members into confidence. He told Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj as well as National Security Advisor Ajit Doval that he was in favour of calling off the August 25 dialogue. “MEA spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin confirmed that foreign secretary Sujatha Singh had called up Basit and told him not to go ahead with his Hurriyat meetings. But envoy told Singh that his meetings would help the political process between India and Pakistan,” a government official was quoted as having told HT. This was Monday. But Abdul Basit had been the subject of discussion during the previous week too. Right amid fresh ceasefire violations along the Line of Control, the Pakistan envoy to India chose to raise the issue of Jammu and Kashmir on the eve of India’s independence Day, saying Pakistan would continue to extend diplomatic and moral support for the legitimate struggle of Kashmiris. “I would also like to reaffirm Pakistan’s full diplomatic and moral support to the people of Jammu and Kashmir in their legitimate struggle which is enshrined in UN Charter and universal declaration of human rights,” he reportedly said. Basit is hardly the first Pakistan diplomat to espouse this view. Nor was Monday’s meeting with Shah a first ever for Pakistani officials. In fact, Basit himself met Syed Ali Shah Gewlani, Shabir Shah, Yasin Malik and Mirwaiz Umar Farooq in April. Not long before that, in November last year, Nawaz Sharif’s national security advisor Sartaj Aziz met a series of secessionists in New Delhi. In earlier years too, several such meetings have been held, evincing mostly a studied silence from Delhi. Basit himself would have been taken aback at the speed and clarity of the decision. In fact, he’d told journalists earlier in the day that there was no cause to hype his meeting since it was hardly the first time such a consultation had been organised. What’s more, New Delhi had actually okayed talks between Pakistan and Hurriyat leaders in the past, hoping to nudge them into accepting  a peace deal acceptable to everyone even if it did not meet the secessionists’ aspirations of an Azad Kashmir. This Monday, however, was different. Senior ministers made aware of the possible impending rap on the knuckles for Pakistan, Intelligence Bureau officials were then tasked with keeping a watch on the Pakistan High Commission. The logic was that even in May, when Nawaz Sharif was invited for Modi’s swearing-in ceremony, the message had been quietly conveyed that any meeting with Hurriyat leaders during his two-day visit would not be appreciated. “If that template was fine with Sharif, why is it not good enough for Basit?” an official is quoted as having told HT. On Monday evening, the Modi government clearly wanted to send out three messages. One, this is a new government playing by new rules. What was acceptable earlier may not be so any longer. In fact, even what could be seen as acceptable during the previous NDA regime may not be so any longer. After all, when Pervez Musharraf met Hurriyat leaders on the sidelines of the famed Agra summit in 2001, Delhi expressed its frustration and anger, but did little else. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made it clear with a single decisive step that he will not respect past convention. Two, actions have consequences, including cross-border terrorism and LOC ceasefire violations. As The Indian Express reports , officials agree that the trigger to call off the scheduled talks appeared “relatively trivial”, but the decision was in face a reasoned one. “We’ve called off talks because Pakistan would not heed our concerns,” a Ministry of Home Affairs official told The Indian Express. “We hope it will understand that we will also respond if more significant red lines, on issues like terrorism, are breached." Contrary to perception, the cancellation of talks was not a knee-jerk decision, and Basit had been clearly warned in advance of his meeting. As former deputy national security adviser Leela Ponappa said on Monday evening during a televised panel discussion on CNN-IBN, the message in cancelling the talks is “appropriate and clear and there are no mixed signals from India”. The statement from the External Affairs Ministry said Pakistan’s “negative approaches and attempts to interfere in India’s internal affairs continue unabated”. The US reacted with a statement calling the cancellation of talks “unfortunate” and said it would encourage the continuance of talks for the peace process. But as Modi has made clear, any future peace process will have to take into account the new man on the other side of the table.