NEW DELHI: The thaw generated in Ufa with a meeting between PM Narendra Modi and his counterpart Nawaz Sharif quickly turned into a diplomatic cul-de-sac only because of the wording of the joint statement which followed the meeting.

?Sharif gave in to India's argument in Ufa that the mention of all outstanding issues was enough to address Pakistan's focus on Kashmir. Pakistan army though forced the civilian government to underline the primacy of Kashmir by declaring that no dialogue could take place with India without Kashmir on the agenda.

This time though, both sides will not have any reason to complain with the Bangkok joint press release? specifically mentioning both terrorism and J&K as issues addressed by the NSAs and the foreign secretaries.

While the BJP here saw the Ufa statement as a victory for India because of no mention of Kashmir and also because Islamabad agreed to address terrorism in all its forms, the government doesn't believe that the appearance of J&K in the Bangkok release is a concession to Pakistan.

“You must realize that J&K is also important for India in the context of our efforts to address the issue of terrorism,” an Indian official said.

One reason why Modi himself was keen to resume engagement with Pakistan was that he may have to visit the neighbour for the next Saarc summit which is scheduled to be held in April next year in Islamabad.

According to Pakistani sources, the meeting in Bangkok had the approval of the army too and the outcome was more than satisfactory.

Pakistan had been insisting that if any dialogue between NSAs had to take place, it could happen only in conjunction with a dialogue between the foreign secretaries. This was important for Islamabad as the NSA talks, as envisaged in Ufa, were meant only to address terrorism. A dialogue between the foreign secretaries was important for Islamabad to underline Kashmir as its “core issue'' in bilateral relations with India.

India had proposed a dialogue between the NSAs in New York in September on the sidelines of the UNGA. Then NSA Sartaj Aziz insisted though that he also wanted to meet Sushma Swaraj, leading India to roll back its proposal.