Kashmir violence could strain Indo-Pak talks : Experts

WASHINGTON - The stage is set for talks between India’s External Affairs Minister S M Krishna with his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mehhmood Qureshi in Islamabad on July 15, however analysts believe that with the Kashmir Valley witnessing massive violence in the recent days, the renewed deliberation is unlikely to yield any substantial result.

While India has blamed Pakistan backed militant groups for the violence in Kashmir, Pakistan has rejected those charges and experts are of the view that this mutual recrimination don’t augur well for progress in talks between the two nuclear neighbours.

“India would consider the disturbances an internal matter “if Pakistan were to stop fueling the insurgency,” The Wall Street Journal quoted Ashok Mehta, a retired Indian Army General and security analyst, as saying.

Mehta stressed that Islamabad must show it can stick to commitments it made before the ghastly 26/11 attacks not to allow its territory to be used as a base for attacks on Indian soil.

Earlier this month, Home Minister P. Chidambaram had said that he believes that the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) was behind the violence in Kashmir, and if India raises the issue in July 15 talks it will certainly dent the prospects of the talks.

“If New Delhi repeats its claims at the official level it will adversely affect the prospects for the talks,” said Hasan-Askari Rizvi, professor of political sciences at the University of the Punjab, Pakistan.

However, New Delhi is hopeful of a positive outcome from Thursday’s meeting as a statement issued by the External Affairs Minister suggests.

“India hopes the meeting would pave the way for a substantive dialogue on issues of mutual concern” the statement said. (ANI)