Resolution with Pakistan cannot hinge on LoC as border, says NSAB chief

Raghavan said there was no reason for India to accept immediately the solution of a border which was 'thrust on it' to its strategic disadvantage

National Security Advisory Board (NSAB) Chairman P S Raghavan said on Wednesday that India need not look at acceptance of the Line of Control (LoC) as the way forward in resolving its issues with Pakistan.

He was speaking during a panel discussion titled Between Dialogue and Deterrence – India’s Pakistan Dilemma. The discussion was set around the book India’s Pakistan Conundrum – Managing a Complex Relationship, written by former high commissioner of India to Pakistan Sharat Sabharwal.

Tracing the genesis of the dispute to western powers that did not want India to have the strategic advantage of its location, he said there was no reason for India to accept immediately the solution of a border which was “thrust on it” to its strategic disadvantage. “Eventually, if we have to do it, we need to have some strategic advantage. Until then, I do not believe that we should even talk about the LoC as a border,” Raghavan said.

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Sabharwal, who was High Commissioner of India to Pakistan between 2009 and 2013, said there was a need to make a distinction between the establishment and the people of Pakistan because there was a sizeable constituency in the country which realised the value of a stable relationship with India. He pointed out that the national discourse in Pakistan has become “far more introspective” and there is unprecedented questioning of the army.

The NSAB Chairman said India needed to keep raising its defenses and strengthen its internal structures because many of the terrorist attacks in the country succeeded also because of failures in its internal security mechanisms.

During the discussion, moderated by Latha Reddy, Co-chair, Global Commission on the Stability of Cyberspace, speakers said political posturing should not alienate the constructive constituency in Pakistan. Lt General Prakash Menon, Director, Strategic Studies Programme, Takshashila Institution, said India’s handling of Pakistan had to be based on hope and not on fear.