Last Friday Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi addressing media in Japan said: “India has no hesitation to discuss any outstanding issue with Pakistan within the bilateral framework that has been established under the Simla Agreement and Lahore Declaration…. We were disappointed that Pakistan sought to make a spectacle of these efforts and went ahead with talks with secessionist elements from Jammu and Kashmir in New Delhi just prior to the meeting of foreign secretaries. We will continue to seek peaceful, friendly and cooperative ties with Pakistan, but… bilateral dialogue requires an environment that is free from terrorism and violence.”

The hollowness of this statement becomes evident from the following facts.

There was continuous heavy cross border terror attacks by the Pakistan army from the day the Modi government was sworn in. Despite this the Indian government extended invitation to Pakistan for foreign secretaries to meet. Yet on the comparatively flimsy charge of Pakistan’s High Commissioner interacting with Kashmir separatists the government canceled the talks. Much is made of the High Commissioner defying advice by our foreign office to not meet the Kashmir leaders.

The fact is that the Indian government deliberately pushed the High Commissioner into a corner leaving him no choice. The High Commissioner’s invitation to the separatists was known days earlier but our foreign office gave him just forty minutes to comply with its ultimatum. The ultimatum was given even as one separatist leader was on his way to meet the High Commissioner. From this it is clear that the Indian government deliberately created a situation to justify cancellation of talks. The question is why.

The decision to cancel the talks was taken solely by Prime Minister Mr. Modi and Foreign Minister Mrs. Sushma Swaraj. Neither any official of the security establishment nor of the Ministry of External Affairs was taken into confidence. The fact that the PM and FM jointly took this decision suggests they acted on information from abroad and not from within India. Further it may be noted that on the day when the talks were cancelled the Israeli Ambassador met with Mr. LK Advani. Mr. Advani is known to be close to Mrs. Sushma Swaraj. On the basis of unchallenged media reports I make a conjecture.

Connecting the dots could the following have happened? The Israeli Ambassador could not have met Mrs. Sushma Swaraj without heightened media attention. So he met Mr. Advani and conveyed a message which was passed through him to Mrs. Sushma Swaraj who then apprised the PM before the cancellation was announced. Why should the Israelis have advised cancellation of talks?

Could it be their intelligence reports anticipated the political turmoil in Pakistan escalating? The demonstrations against Prime Minister Mr. Nawaz Sharif exploded after the talks were cancelled. Had the talks started India could needlessly have been caught in the crossfire between Mr. Nawaz Sharif and his opponents. Now let army and politicians resolve their own disputes! Therefore was not cancellation of talks a blessing in disguise?