India Cancels Talks With Pakistan

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India on Monday cancelled upcoming foreign secretary-level talks with Pakistan after the Pakistani High Commissioner to India met Kashmiri separatist leaders in New Delhi.wpid-121222042845-10-india-protest-1222-horizontal-gallery.jpg

India’s Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh was due to travel to Pakistan for talks with her counterpart on August 25.

Pakistani High Commissioner Abdul Basit’s talks on Monday with leaders from the Hurriyat Conference, an umbrella forum of Kashmiri separatist groups, had “undermined efforts” by New Delhi to resume a regular dialogue process, Indian spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said.

“Under the present circumstances, it is felt that no useful purpose will be served by the Foreign Secretary of India going to Islamabad next week,” Akbaruddin said.

The move is being seen as a hardening of positions regarding Pakistan by the new Indian government, led by Narendra Modi.

The Himalayan region of Kashmir is at the root of a long conflict between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan. Both countries administer parts of Kashmir separately, but claim the region in its entirety.

New Delhi accuses Islamabad of supporting the Muslim separatist insurgency in the part of Kashmir it administers. Kashmiri political leaders’ demands range from autonomy within India to independence or merger with Pakistan.
GNA
PDC

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