The longawaited National Security Adviser (NSA) level talks between India and Pakistan may be in jeopardy after Pakistan`s NSA Sartaj Aziz agreed to meet with Hurriyat leaders, but neither side has formally called off the talks.Dawn spoke to Dr Moeed Yusuf, a foreign policy expert based in Washington DC, about the significance of the talks and asked him what the fallout would be if the talks fell through.Q: Is there a concrete agenda for the talks? A: It`s very clear by the way the talks seem to have fallen through that the two sides did not agree on what exactly the agenda of the talks was going tc be. This is partly because these talks were not about a concrete agenda; this was about Pakistan and India signalling to the world and to themselves that they want to continue talking. It would have been a chance for both sides to sit down and figure out how exactly they want future rounds tc continue; who should be talking from both sides; and, what they want to be discussing. So these talks were going to be a chance to set future agendas.

Q: Why is the Indian government so opposed to the meeting between Hurriyat leaders and Pakistani officials? A: This is nothing new. If you remember, the last time the foreign secretary talks were cancelled they used the argument that the Pakistani high commission had met Hurriyat leaders and thus we won`t talk. Pakistan always points to the Hurriyat as the legitimate custodians of the drive for seli determination in Indian Kashmir. India, of course, doesn`t like that.

Pakistan`s move this time I think was triggered by the fact that Kashmir wasn`t (bewilderingly) mentioned in Ufa and so it probably felt that it was necessary to set the record straight, that this did not mean that Kashmir was off the table or was not going to be discussed. I guess this may have been decided during the recent meeting between the Prime Minister and the Army Chief and DG ISI. And India, precisely because they felt that they had managed to keep Kashmir off the table in the joint statement in Ufa, did no1 want to signal the opposite and I think that was the breaking point.Q: How far would you say Modi`s hard line is dictated by domestic considerations or by the Bharatiya Janata Party`s (BJP) internal politics? A: There`s no question that he has to cater to his domestic constituency.

But at the end of the day, we did see with PM Vajpayee that he could set aside his domestic constituency and still build ties with Pakistan, despite the fact that he was stung by Pakistan`s action in Kargil. So I think it`s a bit convenient to say that it`s domestic politics Alone; to my mind India`s policy right now is to mend fences with all other neigbours, but try and deal with Pakistan on its terms, if Pakistan is willing. And if not, then they will play the waiting game because India doesn`t feel any urgency to get the process back on track. It`s a function of India`s growing global acceptance and Pakistan`s increasingly limited options against it.

Q: If the NSA meeting is cancelled, what will happen next? A: It`s anybody`s guess. My guess is there will be mud-slinging; both medias will take a very, very hawkish line as usual over the next two or three days. Both will signal as if they won and the other lost. And then, cooler heads will prevail and the track one will again try and figure a way out to talk. But you`ve lost a few weeks, if not months, all over again. The last time, in Ufa, Modi agreed to talk under international pressure but this time he`s probably going to signal and say, `we were ready, Pakistanis messed it up.

By Aasma Mojiz