Yashwant Sinha takes a dig at PM Modi, says Indo-Pak NSA talks should be called off

New Delhi, Aug 21: The upcoming Indo-Pak NSA-level talks should be immediately called off, demanded senior BJP leader and former foreign minister Yashwant Sinha on Thursday and said successive Prime Ministers have cherished the thought of getting Nobel Peace Award by resolving Indo-Pak dispute, in an apparent dig at Narendra Modi.

He also called for declaring Pakistan High Commissioner as persona non-grata for "crossing all lines" of diplomatic etiquette by indulging in provocative activities such as inviting Kashmiri separatist leaders ahead of Indo-Pak talks.

Asserting that the NSA-level talks could end up achieving opposite to Indian expectations of brokering peace with Pakistan, Sinha told PTI that Modi government has gone back on stated BJP position that terror and talks cannot go together.

"This is not the appropriate occasion for talks. From the time of Vajpayee government it has been our policy that terror and talks cannot go together. This is the consistent policy of BJP as well....The talks should be called off," he said while citing spurt in terror attacks, ceasefire violations as compelling reasons to do so.

Asked what could be the reason for the Prime Minister to go ahead with talks despite so many irritants being injected by Pakistan, he said, "many successive Prime Ministers have cherished this thought of getting Nobel Peace Award by resolving Indo-Pak dispute."

He also accused Pakistan of "vitiating" the atmosphere ahead of the talks between its National Security Adviser Sartaj Aziz and his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval on terror.

Pakistan has used opportunities given by such meetings with India for grandstanding, he said and added that the neighbouring country will come with an counter-argument for every argument put forth by India and a counter-dossier for every Indian dossier on terror.

PTI