NEW DELHI – Indian and Pakistani National Security Advisors Ajit Doval andGen. (Retd) Naseer Janjua have been meeting and speaking on the telephonemore regularly than they have officially confirmed. They held at leastthree meetings in Bangkok, and one in Russia, sources in Delhi andIslamabad told *The Hindu*.
According to the sources, the NSA’s have been meeting in Bangkok, as it isa convenient hub for flights from both countries, and speaking “regularly”over the phone.
They also held talks on the sidelines of an international security summitin the Russian town of Zavidovo in the Tver region during May 25-26, 2017.Engagements for contacts this year are still being worked out, butdiplomatic sources said the upcoming Davos World Economic Forum on January22-23, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistan Prime MinisterShahid Khaqan Abbasi are scheduled to attend, could be the next venue forthe NSA or other foreign office officials to meet.
The talks in Russia were particularly significant as they came days afterIndia moved the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the case ofKulbhushan Jadhav, the former Indian Navy commander arrested and sentencedto death by Pakistan, who has been denied consular access. The last knownmeeting between the NSAs took place on December 26, 2017 a day after Mr.Jadhav was allowed to meet his wife and mother in Islamabad.
While the Jadhav family reunion turned into an acrimonious issue betweenIndia and Pakistan, and New Delhi expressed outrage over the insensitivetreatment of his kin, the NSA meeting in Bangkok was held in a “friendlyand positive” atmosphere, Pakistani officials said. The Pakistani side wasunhappy over the public statements in India, as it viewed the granting ofvisitation to Mr. Jadhav’s family as a “constructive and humanitarian”gesture.
India accused Pakistan of violating its commitments on access to Mr. Jadhavand of humiliating his family by making them change clothes and removetheir jewellery. India’s subsequent decision to cancel grant of visas toSufi pilgrims from Pakistan to attend the urs at the Nizamuddin shrine wasseen as a response to Pakistan’s actions on the Jadhav case.
Since then, however, officials said humanitarian gestures such as therelease of prisoners and fishermen as well as visas for upcoming religiouspilgrimages are back on track, with Pakistan releasing more than 300 Indianprisoners in the past few weeks.
The NSA channel that was set up by Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and NawazSharif after their meeting on the sidelines of the Climate Changeconference in Paris in November 2015, has been “very useful” said oneofficial and has continued despite acrimony and attacks in Jammu andKashmir.
While the first conversations focussed on the investigation in Pakistaninto the Pathankot attack, subsequent contacts have focussed on curbingrising incidents of infiltration, ceasefire violations, and cross-borderterrorism, as well as the Jadhav case.
On January 11, the Ministry of External Affairs acknowledged that the NSAsmet in Bangkok on December 26, weeks after reports appeared in newspapersin India and Pakistan. This is the first time the government has admittedthe NSAs had talked since December 2015 when they had met at Bangkok’sNovotel Hotel, holding the public line that “no talks are possible untilPakistan ends the export of terrorism.”
Modifying that line in reply to questions from journalists, MEAspokesperson Ravish Kumar said on Thursday that “terror and talks cannot gotogether but talks on terror can definitely go ahead.”
However, when asked about other such meetings Mr. Kumar said, “These areoperational-level mechanisms like we have for DGMOs and Pak Rangers. Wedon’t announce such visits. So as and when these meetings take place youwill get to know.”
In a separate reply to *The Hindu* about the other meetings between theNSAs, the spokesperson said he could only confirm the one that took placeon December 26 last year and not those in Thailand and Russia.