DHAKA: Planned high-level talks between India and Pakistan have been cancelled hours before they were due to start on Sunday, amid mutual recriminations.

Pakistan said that it could not accept India's "preconditions" for the talks, while India denied that it was to blame, BBC reported.

Delhi said that it was only willing to discuss "terrorism-related issues" at the talks and nothing else.

Pakistan argued that talks purely on this basis would be futile.

Analysts say that many in India believe that PM Narendra Modi's government appears to have recognised that a quest for durable peace with Pakistan is a non-starter.

Are India-Pakistan talks jinxed?

"We have come to the conclusion that the proposed National Security Advisers (NSA) level talks between the two countries would not serve any purpose," Pakistan's foreign ministry said late on Saturday.

"It is not reasonable for India to assume the right to decide unilaterally that from now onwards, other issues will [only] be discussed after terrorism has been discussed and eliminated," a statement from Pakistan's foreign ministry said.

India gave Pakistan until midnight on Saturday to agree to restrict the talks solely about militancy following after a row over Pakistan's plan to meet Kashmiri separatist leaders and widen the scope of the talks.

When asked what would happen if Pakistan did not agree to India's demands, Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj replied: "Then talks won't happen."

BDST: 0834 HRS, AUG 23, 2015
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