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India should try to help its neighbours in their own national priorities: Ambassador Saran

Published : Saturday, 31 December, 2022 at 12:00 AM  Count : 170

New Delhi, Dec 30: Former Deputy NSA Pankaj Saran is of the view that India should try to help its neighbours in their own national priorities.
In a free and frank 27-minute discussion 'Around the world with Pankaj Saran', put out on Awaz The Voice on Wednesday, Ambassador Saran who has also been India's High Commissioner to Bangladesh, said, " The neighbourhood is very important, always has been and will continue to be.''
Asked if there would be any forward movement in the relationship with Pakistan, Ambassador Saran who has also been India's High Commissioner to Bangladesh, said, I don't expect much in so far as our relationship with Pakistan is concerned. Till such time that there is pursuit of terrorism by Pakistan as a strategic option vis-�-vis India, I doubt whether we can move very much forward. ''
Ambassador Saran who is also the Convener of Nat Strat, a foreign policy think tank, said, " With regard to the other neighbours, it is an important geography for us. India will continue to push even harder to try and improve its relations with all the other neighbours, to try and enhance our integration and cooperation and to try and help the neighbours in their own national priorities- whether it is Nepal or Sri Lanka or Bangladesh.''
The senior diplomat said, "I also suspect that Pakistan is going to be very deeply preoccupied in its huge internal problems. What we can hope for is to maintain the ceasefire, ensure they don't create mischief in J and K and we maintain a modicum of normalcy across the border but beyond that, I don't see any significant revival of political contacts.''
He also cautioned that Afghanistan is going to be a continuing security challenge. "We still have to see how the Taliban behaves and what happens to the entire cocktail of terrorism and radicalization in Afghanistan. So, that is going to be an area of concern. The Afghanistan-Pakistan relationship is also going to deteriorate which will also have an impact on Indian security.''
Replying to a question, the Nat Strat Convener warned that China will undoubtedly remain India's most important foreign policy challenge in 2023. "The fact is that normalcy in the relationship with China in 2023 looks difficult because of the situation on the border and the LAC. There is no doubt that China will remain our most important foreign policy challenge in 2023. India can expect continuation of a tough posture by China externally. The return to normalcy is unlikely. We have just seen the recent incident in Tawang. So, we have to be alert, well prepared and realistic about how much we can do with China and be prepared for all eventualities and scenario,'' Ambassador Saran cautioned during the fortnightly YouTube show.
Responding to a question, Ambassador Saran put the onus on China to restore normalcy in the relationship with India. "The primary responsibility to bring the relationship back to normal rests with China and It depends therefore a lot on how the Chinese will behave,'' he said.  
Ambassador Saran said, "When we are talking of our relationship with China, these different tracks of our relationship are likely to proceed at different speed.''
He added, "India has to ensure that we don't get even more dependent on China. Out trade has grown with China in 2021 and 2022.''












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