The cancellation of the National Security Adviser (NSA) talks scheduled to be held on August 23-24 in New Delhi is yet another manifestation of the flawed dynamics of the diplomatic status quo between Pakistan and India. During the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Ufa in July, Prime Ministers Nawaz Sharif and Narendra Modi agreed upon the need to open a line of dialogue that would cover all immediate and long-standing issues between the two neigbours. Immediately after the agreement, Sartraj Aziz, the Pakistani NSA, stated that the mere omission of the word Kashmir is in no way a negation of the significance the government of Pakistan attaches to the Kashmir dispute, and no dialogue between the two countries would take place without the inclusion of the Kashmir issue.