Pakistan's 26/11 statement is no u-turn, won't affect future action: Government sources

A day after Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's advisor Sartaj Aziz claimed that the country needed more proof on 26/11 from India before the trail can be expedited, the Indian government has said that it should not be viewed as a u-turn.

Government sources have told CNN-IBN that the comment by Aziz should not be viewed as a u-turn by Pakistan as talks in this regard are yet to begin.

According to sources, the government is not looking at the statement as a jolt. They maintain that Aziz's comments do not affect the action that will be taken in the future.

They further pointed that Aziz has not ruled out coming to New Delhi to hold talks with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval as decided in bilateral talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif.

Notably, government sources said that an invite by Pakistan to separatist leaders to attend Eid festivities will not impact the benchmark set by both sides to engage bilaterally.

This came even as Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday morning said that India would give a befitting reply to Pakistan in case of any ceasefire violation along the Line of Control or International Border.

The Home Minister also reportedly said that “Kashmir is not a disputed area”, and in fact “an integral part of India”.

Sartaj Aziz had on Monday said that no dialogue with India was possible without discussion on the Kashmir issue.

"No discussion will take place with India if Kashmir will not be discussed. We will stay firm on all our primary issue," Aziz had said.

He also said that Pakistan needs more evidence from India to expedite 2008 Mumbai attacks trial.

On July 10, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had met his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on the sidelines of SCO Summit in Ufa, Russia, where the two leaders “exchanged views on issues of bilateral and regional interest”.

Addressing a joint press conference following the meeting, the foreign secretaries of both the countries had said that India and Pakistan were ready to “discuss all outstanding issues”.

They also said that a meeting between National Security Advisors of both the countries would be held in New Delhi to discuss all issues connected to terrorism.

(With PTI Inputs)