ISLAMABAD, Nov 12 (APP): Calling New Delhi Regional Security Dialogue on Afghanistan having a negative takeaway, an Indian Strategic Affairs analyst said that in order to be viewed as a reliable stakeholder in Afghanistan, India should improve its ties with Pakistan and China.
Also an ex-Indian army officer, Pravin Sawhney, in an interview with Russia’s Sputnik News, said “the major takeaway from the Delhi Regional Security Dialogue is a negative one.”
“The reason for that is simple. Within hours of the Delhi Declaration, Russia issued its own statement. While the “Delhi Declaration”, or the joint statement, says that the participants would hold the next meeting by 2022, the Russian statement completely misses that point.”
Moreover, the Russian representative also issued a statement that multiple dialogues shouldn’t complicate the situation. The growing fissures between India and Russia were out in the open, he added.
Calling Delhi’s Dialogue as a perception management exercise for the people of India, Sawhney said it was also meant to send out a message that India was still an important stakeholder in Afghanistan.
About the “Extended Troika” hosted by Pakistan on November 11 and attended by “three major geostrategic players” including US, Russia, and China, the analyst said out of them only Russia was present at the Indian conference which also decided to express their own views.
“It is not simply about Afghanistan where the India-Pakistan ties come into focus. It is about a sense of timing in history. The Pakistanis were smart enough to realise the importance of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC),” he commented.
So, he said the overall success of Pakistan not only lies in terms of security, but in the sphere of overall connectivity.
To a question about the India-US ties, Pravin Sawhney said “India is on the wrong side of history. America is a very important country. We need good relations with the US.”
He said the Indian government must realise that peace and prosperity must first come in the immediate neighbourhood. “If our neighbourhood is not at peace with us, the Americans can do nothing for us.”
While India has linked its overall bilateral relations to the situation at the border and demanded that it wants the status quo at the Ladakh border (pre-April 2020) to be restored, he said “I can guarantee you that it will never happen. It is completely out of the question that the Indian territory that China has taken from us will be given back now.”
He said India had only land route with Afghanistan through Pakistan but it did not have good ties with Islamabad.
To a question, the analyst suggested India to call for a dialogue with China towards holding an informal summit with the Chinese leadership, like the Wuhan “Informal Summit” of 2018.
