November 24, 2024

Situation: India needs to resume ‘interrupted & uninterruptable’ dialogue with Pakistan to avoid Israel-Gaza like situation: Mani Shankar Aiyar | India News

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CHANDIGARH: Former Union minister Mani Shankar Aiyar stated that, in the current scenario, India needs to resume uninterrupted and uninterruptible dialogue with Pakistan, which is crucial to contain both Pakistan and China.
According to Aiyar, if a war between India and Pakistan were to happen, the western front, especially Punjab in India and Pakistan’s Punjab, would suffer the most.The diplomat-turned-political leader, Aiyar, spoke on a panel discussion at the Military Literature Festival on Saturday in Chandigarh, saying, “We must avoid asituation like Israel and Gaza in relation to India and Pakistan.
“The fact of the matter is that our single biggest asset in Pakistan is the goodwill of the people of Pakistan, and it is on this goodwill with people and the establishment that we can have viable relationships, if not friendly. No doubt that there are elements in Pakistan that will continue proxy war. Our history has shown that whenever we talked to Pakistan, positive progress between both countries was visible,” Aiyar said, who had joined the session online.
He further stated that India has to keep itself militarily ready, but most importantly, diplomacy and negotiations should be in its arsenal.
He also suggested a strong diplomatic connection with China, as wars only happen when diplomacy fails. Aiyar apprehended that if Pakistan and China join hands in attacking India, there would be a difficult military situation.
Ajay Bisaria, former High Commissioner of India in Pakistan, explained how Pakistan has been facing an economic and political crisis. Bisaria also said that Pakistan has stopped dialogue since India started reacting to Pulwama-like attacks. He also said that the situation in Pakistan could be compared to a patient lying in the ICU, stabilized for the past six months only after loans by the IMF. Bisaria also stated that unfortunately, the Pakistan army is not providing a level playing field to political parties and is giving the upper hand only to its favorite political party. He further said that Pakistan has also suffered setbacks in its Afghanistan-Taliban policy, as things did not work as per its wish after the US left Afghanistan in August 2021.
Senior Punjab IAS, who was the moderator of the session titled “Neo-Feudals in Pakistan and Societal Fault Lines,” pointed out the financial crisis in Pakistan and how most of its budget goes to defense expenses. Kaushik also explained how the media has been controlled in Pakistan.
Another speaker, Brig Harsh Vardhan Singh, tried to shed some light on how problems have started brewing up for the Pakistan army.
Another panelist, Rakhee Gupta Bhandari, a Punjab cadre IAS, however, stressed that the state of Punjab should look for more and more international collaborations, starting with liaising with neighboring countries and global organizations. “Use tourism instead of terrorism and also use words that counter the negatives of neighboring countries. Medical, sports, Caravan tourism should be paid emphasis,” she emphasized further.



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