As suspense mounted over holding of the Indo-Pak National Security Adviser-level talks after both sides hardened their positions on the issue of Kashmiri separatists, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today called a press conference in Delhi.          

A day before his scheduled departure for Delhi, Pakistan National Security Advisor Sartaj Aziz too has called a media meet in Islamabad at 1 pm (local time). Swaraj will meet the press at 4 pm.          

The Pakistan NSA is scheduled to hold discussions with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval tomorrow and day after. While India has made it clear to Pakistan that a meeting between the separatists and Aziz was not appropriate, Pakistan reacted strongly to insist that it would not depart from the "established past practice" of interacting with separatist Hurriyat leaders.          

India has described the invitation to Hurriyat representatives as a "provocative action" and accused Pakistan of trying to evade its commitment to engage in a substantive discussion on terrorism as had been agreed between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in Ufa (Russia) last month.