Attack casts shadow over Indo-Pak engagement

The terror attack at Gurdaspur in Punjab on Monday has cast a shadow over India-Pakistan roadmap of engagement that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart M Nawaz Sharif agreed upon on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s summit in Ufa in Russia on July 10.

New Delhi has not yet called off the proposed meeting between the two country’s national security advisers (NSAs), but senior officials of the Modi government said continued hostility by the neighbouring country during the fortnight after the Modi-Sharif meet in Ufa would be factored in while deciding the course of bilateral engagement.

Modi’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval is likely to host Sharif’s Foreign Affairs and National Security Adviser Sartaj Aziz in New Delhi next month. They have been mandated by the two PMs to discuss “all issues related to terrorism”.

But indications about role of the “state and non-state actors” of Pakistan for the deadly terrorist attack on Monday prompted New Delhi to reassess Islamabad’s words and deeds over the past couple of weeks after the Ufa meet.