BJP's Ram Madhav Denies Track-2 Talks with Pakistan in Colombo

NEW DELHI: BJP’s Ram Madhav, an ex-RSS member who heads think tank India Foundation, has dismissed reports of track-2 talks involving Indian and Pakistani delegations at a conference in Colombo and his association with it, calling it a “totally wrong portrayal” of what happened at the event.

“It was not any track-2 dialogue. It was IISS annual South Asia Dialogue, which was attended by scholars from India, Sri Lanka, US, UK, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Even officials attended this dialogue in the past. No track-2 is held with so many nations. I did not attend the two-day dialogue. I was invited to speak at a session, which I did and left. Complete spin to a non-story.”

The statements came in response to reports claiming the two nations have engaged in track-2 diplomacy, which does not involve state officials and may or may not be authorised by respective govts. Madhav, besides Gen (retd) M M Naravane and retired diplomat Ruchi Ghanashyam, were named as Indian interlocutors by a news item in one such talk on the sidelines of a conference in Colombo this week.

India has suspended engagement with Pakistan for over a decade and taken the line that talks and terror cannot go together. With senior figures in Pakistan continuing with their provocative statements against India and threatening to launch war, the resumption of formal engagement in the immediate term does not look feasible.

General M M Naravane and Ghanashyam have not reacted to the report.