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Vital to sustain talks, but ball is in Pak’s court: PM’s envoy
Tribune News Service & PTI

New Delhi, January 21
India needs to intensify its engagement with Pakistan, notwithstanding its fragile polity and uncertain interest in peace at this stage, because keeping away from it is not a wise choice, Prime Minister's special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan SK Lambah said today.

Delivering the fifth RN Kao Memorial Lecture here, Lambah said India's most critical engagement was with Pakistan and it must reach out for dialogue to reduce tensions, resolve outstanding issue and foster friendship. “The ball is in Pakistan’s court. We are willing to pick up the threads,” Lambah said.

“Pakistan’s polity is fragile and its interest in peace at this stage is uncertain. But not engaging a neighbouring country with 180 million people, strong antagonism towards India, a growing nuclear weapons arsenal and worsening instability is not a wise choice. We can defend ourselves against hostility but instability in the neighbourhood can have unpredictable consequences,” Lambah said.

The subject of the lecture, instituted in the memory of legendary intelligence czar Rameshwar Nath Kao, the first chief of external intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), was ‘Securing India's Future Through Its Neighbourhood’.

He said the process of engagement with neighbours should also include those that are experiencing internal instability and turmoil, an apparent reference to Pakistan.

"Engagement does not always assure us of a desired response, nor does it guarantee success. However, rejecting the process of engagement will not enable us to achieve our long-term goals," Lambah said. He maintained that India should engage all its neighbours, including those with whom it has differences and disputes, but not at the cost of defence preparedness. The special envoy said the rise of extremism and intolerance in India's neighbourhood was inconsistent with the principles of pluralism, dialogue and democracy and would always be a challenge to India, no matter what form it took and how it manifested itself.

“Indeed, one of the greatest challenges is the role of major powers, from within and outside the region, in our neighbourhood. Neither confrontation nor the collusion between major powers, whether between the United States and China, is in our own interest,” he said.

Supporting his theory of engagement, Lambah said even during the height of Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union never stopped talking to each other. “Today, China and the United States seek ways and means to maintain channels of communication, even at times of strain, specially between their militaries”.

He said India's most critical engagement was with Pakistan and it was vital to reach out for dialogue to reduce tensions, resolve outstanding issues and foster friendship. “There have been periods of crises, but also moments of hope. The sense of cynicism about dialogue with Pakistan is understandable specially when those responsible for Mumbai 26/11 attacks roam freely.”

On China, he said, India should sustain its dialogue and engagement despite all challenges that emerge from time to time. Lambah said the process of economic integration of the neighbourhood needed to be enlarged and intensified, which might even call for India's willingness to implement significant measures favouring neighbours.

Replying to a question on intrusions by the Chinese army, Lambah said India needed to build up regional goals and infrastructure. — PTI