India over reacted on Hurriyat leader meeting our High Commissioner: Pakistan

Islamabad: Passing the buck on India, Pakistan's National Security and Foreign Affairs Adviser Sartaj Aziz on Thursday said that India over reacted on the issue of Hurriyat leader meeting Pakistan High Commissioner which led to cancellation of talks between the two neighbouring countries.

Aziz said that it was India that cancelled the foreign secretary level talks therefore it's up to them to make the first move. He also added that meeting with separatist leaders have taken place in the past as well.

Meanwhile, Pakistan clarified that no meeting was planned between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. "We have not sought a meeting and we have not received any request," Foreign Office spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said at the weekly briefing. She said Sharif would not meet US President Barack Obama as the two leaders would not be in New York at the same time.

However, the Pakistani leader had six or seven meetings with various heads of states and governments, including one with the UN Secretary General. Replying to a question, she said the two Foreign Offices are in contact through their respective High Commissions about possible meetings of the foreign secretaries which was cancelled last month.

"We did not cancel the talks so it is up to India now to indicate how it wants to proceed," she said. Aslam said that Sharif visited India to attend the oath taking ceremony of Prime Minister Modi and there the two leaders agreed that the two Foreign Secretaries would meet and resume the dialogue process.

"You would recall that the meeting between the Foreign Secretaries was also announced but it was then abruptly cancelled by the Indian side on the pretext that Pakistani High Commissioner in New Delhi had met with the Kashmiri Hurriyat leaders," she said.

She said Pakistan wants to focus on the disputes between the two countries, including the issue of Kashmir so that a peaceful solution could be found through dialogue. "Our efforts are not lacking in any way," she said.