India: Surya Gangadharan, a senior journalist from India, recently hosted Former High Commissioner to Pakistan, TCA Raghavan, in a virtual interview where he draws his experience and understanding regarding the latest olive branch peaceful offer made by the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shehbaz Sharif to India.
As per the reports, before the start of the interview, Surya Gangadharan explained the previous statements issued by the Pakistani Prime Minister regarding the Olive Branch offer, where Shehbaz Sharif mentioned that ‘’India and Pakistan have had gone into war three times which only gave back poverty, unemployment, and misery as a result’’.
Shehbaz Sharif stated, ‘’We have learned the lessons, and now we want to live in peace and cooperation and want to resolve our problems’’. ‘’burning Issues like Kashmir can be resolved through sincere and serious talks’’ etc.
While addressing such statements of the Pakistan PM, Surya Gangadharan stated that these are the same old refrains and statements issued by the Pakistan government, which have nothing new. Additionally, Surya called TCR Raghavan into the interview and asked him about his views regarding such old statements and offers,
TCR Raghavan started his answer by saying that, in his view, it was not an offer but only a statement given in a media interview as it is a repeated statement which was formerly provided by the previous Pakistan government, specifically after the demand of revocation of Article 370 before getting involved in any peace talks.
‘’Put together, it is a standard kind of articulation of Pakistani perspective which has been there since August 2019’’. TCR Raghavan continued his statement and said that through such articulation, one could easily understand all the fuss.
Furthermore, when asked about the fuss by Surya Gangadharan, Former High Commissioner, Raghavan cited, ‘’In my view, Fusses are necessary, but at the same time, I don’t think there is any need of hurry to act excessively cynical about the statements.
The India-Pakistan landscape is so fraught with tension, and the overall terrain is so bleak, along with a lack of trust and positive thinking, that even a standard formulation without any political flourishes is a good development.
Moreover, TCA Raghavan carried forward his citing that, ‘’In recent months, there has been an intensity in the politics and the similar statements are often coming in the daylight out of Pakistan, so the statement which may be only a vague aspiration but holds a positive meaning, is good’’.
Additionally, Raghavan added that, as per the given current scenario and political churn in Pakistan, there is not much need to give it too much consideration as nothing more can be done at the point of time with Pakistan at this stage, only unless there is greater political coherence.
Besides, the former high commissioner also mentioned that a statement coming straight from the Prime Minister of Pakistan could be considered a statement from someone who represents a party that has also taken various initiatives to stabilize political relations with India.
He concluded his answer by saying that, overall, it is not a bad thing, but at the same time, we should not be in any hurry to take large-scale actions or excessively cynical or dismissing.