Military not a solution to Pakistan problem, need more rounded approach: Ex-envoy TCA Raghavan

New Delhi: Amidst growing tensions and a "securitised" India-Pakistan relationship, former Indian high commissioner to Pakistan TCA Raghavan has cautioned that there is no military solution to the problem, urging for a more rounded approach that leverages India's full spectrum of strengths, including diplomatic, societal and political tools. Speaking at the India Habitat Centre here on Tuesday on the topic, "India-Pakistan relations in light of Operation Sindoor", Raghavan emphasised that India's true influence lies in its economic vitality, social pluralism, institutional resilience and cultural reach -- not just in its military prowess. In fact, according to the former diplomat who served in Pakistan for seven years, the Pakistani military does not feel threatened by India's military might, but rather seeks "to stand up to it". "What worries Pakistanis is not your military, but your overall trajectory as a nation -- your economic growth, your societal progress, the pluralism of your society and the strength of your institutions. That is what they really fear.... There is no military solution, you have to bring in all your strengths. "Your strengths are enormous in the real sense.... You are truly a cultural, social and political hegemon where Pakistan is concerned. So if we move to a purely security-based relationship, all of that is being put aside. Given that you are not just dealing with Pakistan for two, three or even five years, but for a very long time, you need a more rounded approach," Raghavan noted.

The former diplomat served as India's high commissioner to Pakistan from June 6, 2013 till his retirement on December 31, 2015. Underscoring that the situation with Pakistan is far from merely a "tactical or military issue", the 69-year-old asserted that the central challenge today is "how to manage a volatile and friction-ridden interface with a difficult neighbour in the absence of a functioning bilateral relationship" -- a relationship, he noted, that has been "progressively hollowed out" since 2017-18. In fact, according to the seasoned diplomat, the recent decision to place the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in abeyance reflects just how few diplomatic options remain on the table. "This time, you were, in a sense, left with no other option but to place the IWT in abeyance. Everything else that could have been done had already been done. There was no other peg of the relationship which you could have used as a sanction against Pakistan. The cupboard is bare," Raghavan said. He also highlighted the danger of viewing Pakistan through what he called a "monochromatic lens" and said there is now a tendency to treat all of Pakistan as uniformly "bad".

Reflecting on India's long-standing position that "talks and terror cannot go together", Raghavan observed that while the principle remains valid, its rigid application may be limiting diplomatic flexibility. "This is really what 'talks and terror cannot go together' means. But in the process, you are losing the capacity to distinguish between shades of behaviour," he said. To buttress his point, the author of "The People Next Door: The Curious History of India-Pakistan Relations" gave the example of the 2021 ceasefire reaffirmation agreement at the Line of Control (LoC), despite India facing severe tensions with China at the time, and argued that there was a period of "relatively better" behaviour by Pakistan. "But we did not take cognisance of it. If you do not distinguish between shades of behaviour, you tie your hands behind your back," he added, advocating for a more calibrated policy, the one where "you have to deal with neighbours as they are, not as you would like them to be". The discussion, organised by India Foundation, was also joined by Ruchi Ghanashayam, India's former high commissioner to Ghana, South Africa and the United Kingdom, who was also the first Indian woman diplomat stationed in Islamabad.