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India-Pak ties in deep freeze: Will military talks be cancelled next?

August 24, 2015 14:05 IST

In Ufa last month, India and Pakistan had agreed on a meeting between heads of the BSF and Pakistan Rangers. Photograph: Scott Barbour/Getty Images 

After the cancellation of National Security Advisor-level talks, proposed meetings between top military officials of India and Pakistan are now unlikely, a media report said on Monday.

Pakistan cancelled the talks on Saturday after India clearly said that it would not allow a meeting with Kashmiri separatist leaders and talks will only focus on terrorism.

The Express Tribune said that with the NSA talks called off because of differences over the agenda as well as Pakistan’s invitation to Kashmiri Hurriyat leaders, the meetings between director general military operations as well as heads of Pakistan Rangers and Border Security Force are uncertain.

The paper quoted an official as saying that the Ufa agreement has now become "controversial" and "irrelevant" as a result of cancellation of the NSA-level talks.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in their meeting in the Russian city of Ufa last month had agreed on meetings between DGMOs and heads of Pakistan Rangers and the BSF.

India wanted the two meetings before the NSA-level talks but Islamabad proposed September 6 for the meeting between the heads of Rangers and BSF, which would be followed by the DGMOs' meeting.

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Sajjad Hussain in Islamabad