Why BJP's Yashwant Sinha was right about opposing India-Pakistan NSA talks

Yashwant Sinha, senior BJP leader had openly expressed his opposition to the proposed NSA talks between India and Pakistan on 17 August.

The decision to hold the talks, which are scheduled to be held on 23 August, was taken during the meeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Nawaz Sharif in Ufa.

However, in a shocking move, the Pakistan High Commission has invited the Separatist Hurriyat leaders including Syed Ali Shah Geelani and chairperson Mirwaiz Umer Farooq to meet Pakistan's National Security Advisor Sartaz Aziz during his stay in Delhi.

This drives home the point that Yashwant Sinha's apprehensions about the NSA talks are right as India, in August 2014, had called off scheduled meeting of Foreign Secretaries in Islamabad after Pakistan's High Commissioner met with Hurriyat leader in Delhi.

After BJP came to power, Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited leaders of all the SAARC nations for his swearing-in ceremony as a gesture to improve relationship between India and other SAARC countries including Pakistan. However, Pakistan has proved it on several occasions that the idea of holding peace talks with them might be a distant dream.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi had made it clear that 'terror and talks' cannot go together. However, the involvement of Pakistan in recent terror attacks of Gurdaspur, Punjab and Udhampur, J&K has been proved. Thus, it shows that Pakistan has not done much to quell the terror outfits who send militant into Indian territory on regular intervals to disturb the peace.

• In the joint statement released after Ufa meeting, Pakistan had agreed to expedite the Mumbai case trial and also work towards providing voice samples of the accused. However, just two days after the decision was made, Pakistan government announced that it will not file a fresh petition to obtain voice samples of Zaki-ur-Rehman claiming that no such law existed in their country.

• There have been more than 40 incidents of ceasefire violations by Pakistan since the talks were held. On 15 August, heavy firing and shelling from across the border claimed lives of six people. These incidents have not stopped even after India lodged complaint in United Nations. Also, in a separate incident, Pakistan military shot down a drone and accused India of violating the air space. It was later found that the drone was manufactured in China, as reported by the Chinese media.