Time has come to talk to Pakistan; Modi should take the initiative: Pravin Sawhney

1 month ago 76

Time has come to talk to Pakistan; Modi should take the initiative: Pravin Sawhney, Editor, Force Magazine, to Karan Thapar for The Wire. ......................................... In an interview to discuss comments made by the General Secretary of the RSS, Dattatreya Hosabale, in an interview to PTI, that India “should not close the doors” to Pakistan and “we should always be ready to engage in dialogue”, the Editor of Force Magazine has said that the time has come for India to talk to Pakistan and Prime Minister Modi should take the initiative to initiate a dialogue. Pravin Sawhney explains his reasons in detail in the interview. However, Mr. Sawhney believes that Mr. Hosabale’s comments were made at the “urgings” of the Americans for their own specific reasons. Again, Mr. Sawhney explains this in the interview. He does not believe that Mr. Modi requires endorsement or cover from Mr. Hosabale to initiate a dialogue with Pakistan. I give below the main questions put to Mr. Sawhney. Here they are:- 1) Earlier this month Dattatreya Hosabale, the General Secretary of the RSS and its second most important person, said in an interview to PTI about Pakistan: “We should not close the doors. We should always be ready to engage in dialogue … we should not stop these, because there should always be a window for dialogue.” Mr. Hosabale’s remarks came as a surprise to most people. How do you interpret what he’s said? 2) There is a view that Pakistan’s recent diplomatic successes have put the Modi government under pressure to change India’s approach to Pakistan. Is Mr. Hosabale responding to that and, additionally, providing cover for the Modi government to take whatever steps it intends? 3) The truth is Pakistan today has a very different international profile compared to May 2025 when Operation Sindoor happened. It’s relationship with America has significantly improved. It has a strategic defence relationship with Saudi Arabia. It has close ties with Egypt and Turkey. And it’s playing a critical role as the mediator in the Gulf war. How much of a challenge is all of this for India? 4) We now also have confirmation of something that was suspected earlier that China played a critical role supporting Pakistan during Operation Sindoor with technical and intelligence assistance. Is that another reason why India needs to find a way of resuming talks and not keep diplomatic doors shut? 5) The Indian government has repeatedly said at multiple levels that Operation Sindoor is only paused. It’s not concluded. But clearly in the circumstances that prevail today India can’t afford to resume Operation Sindoor. Does that mean we need to consider diplomatic talks as a way of resolving our problems with Pakistan? 6) Beyond opening the doors to diplomatic talks do we also need to change the way we think of Pakistan? We call it ‘a failed state’, ‘a pariah’ and ‘a dalal’. These terms smack of prejudice rather than analysis. Do they come in the way of thinking rationally about our neighbour? 7) Yet the truth is Pakistan does support Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba who periodically carry out terrorist attacks against India. In 2015 and 2016 Gen. Musharaff said: “Inter-services Intelligence trains Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists”. He added: “We supported them and trained them as they were fighting in Kashmir … Hafiz Saeed and Lakhvi were our heroes.” Do you believe talks will resolve this problem because they haven’t up till now? And if they can’t what purpose do they serve? 8) On the other hand, if India starts talking to Pakistan how will that be viewed by the major powers of the world like America, Russia and China, by the European Union and by the Gulf countries? These are countries whose opinion matters to India. We want to keep them on side. 9) I suppose the real problem is that opening diplomatic doors to Pakistan would look like a very significant reversal of Mr. Modi’s policy to Pakistan. How would he justify it to his supporters? Or is that where Mr. Hosabale’s statement is most useful? Here is the link to the interview: Join The Wire's Youtube Membership and get exclusive content, member-only emojis, live interaction with The Wire's founders, editors and reporters and much more. Memberships to The Wire Crew start at Rs 89/month. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChWtJey46brNr7qHQpN6KLQ/join

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