Both India and Pak Toughen Stand on Meeting Separatists

New Delhi(Agency) :  Talks between India and Pakistan on the weekend were all but called off as the two countries today exchanged hard rhetoric. Islamabad has asserted that it will not cancel a meeting with Kashmiri separatists despite India emphasizing that it would be a deal-breaker. Pakistan said it had proposed a comprehensive agenda reflecting the "broader understanding in Ufa" that all outstanding issues, including Kashmir and terrorism would be discussed between the two countries.The statement followed a top security meeting in which Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif reportedly said that there would be no stepping back on Kashmir.In what India sees as provocation, Pakistan has invited Kashmiri separatists to a reception hosted by its envoy in Delhi on Sunday evening for Sartaj Aziz, who will hold talks with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval on Monday.Sources say the separatists will be



stopped from meeting Mr Aziz and could even be detained on arrival at the Delhi airport. They won't be arrested in Jammu and Kashmir, the Centre's ally PDP, which rules Jammu and Kashmir, has reportedly made it clear.Separatists Yasin Malik, Syed Ali Shah Geelani and Mirwaiz Umer Farooq had been detained in Srinagar on Thursday but were released within two hours, reportedly after Mehbooba Mufti, the president of the PDP and Chief Minister Mufti Saeed's daughter, stepped in.India has emphasized that any meeting between the Kashmiri separatists and the Pakistani delegation either before or after the talks is unacceptable.India called off talks last July after Pakistan consulted the separatists before a meeting of Foreign Secretaries. A year later, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Nawaz Sharif met on the sidelines of a conference in Ufa, Russia, and agreed to restart talks as part of several breakthrough announcements.