Sreejith Sasidharan

Another foolish version of wish-casting re what Track 2 can achieve, but not the same as the “Aman Ki Asha” delusion, both in terms of intensity of engagement it advocates or goals it aims achieve. Backchannel happened after Balakot too but it was official; we’re not there yet.

Good morning from Beijing, where the US-China meeting is a sidebar on the front page of the China Daily.

Press reports fed by unnamed sources are appearing in our media about Track 2 talks being held between retired Indian generals and diplomats and their Pakistani counterparts in third countries . Lobbies, international and local, seem to be promoting such meetings and the idea of giving them publicity is to mobilise opinion in India in favour of resumption of a back channel dialogue between India and Pakistan. It is argued that these unofficial talks are filling up the vacuum created by the absence of an official level dialogue. Those behind these planted reports make the familiar arguments in favour of re- establishing channels of communication with Pakistan at some level so that trends in thinking can be assessed and potential misjudgments avoided. These Track 2 participants think they are serving a useful cause at a time when the US is rehabilitating Pakistan, Asim Munir has wormed his way into Trump’s favour, the war on terror has lost international resonance and our campaign to isolate Pakistan has failed. These re-surfacing lobbies think we should abandon the core of our policy towards Pakistan even without any signal of change in Pakistan’s core attitude towards India. They want us to become defensive because of improved US- Pakistan ties and ourselves open the doors to a dialogue with Pakistan to pre- empt US pressure. The usual defeatist attitude cloaked in pragmatic diplomacy. The idea is to dilute the message of Op Sindoor to Pakistan.

Press reports fed by unnamed sources are appearing in our media about Track 2 talks being held between retired Indian generals and diplomats and their Pakistani counterparts in third countries . Lobbies, international and local, seem to be promoting such meetings and the idea of giving them publicity is to mobilise opinion in India in favour of resumption of a back channel dialogue between India and Pakistan. It is argued that these unofficial talks are filling up the vacuum created by the absence of an official level dialogue. Those behind these planted reports make the familiar arguments in favour of re- establishing channels of communication with Pakistan at some level so that trends in thinking can be assessed and potential misjudgments avoided. These Track 2 participants think they are serving a useful cause at a time when the US is rehabilitating Pakistan, Asim Munir has wormed his way into Trump’s favour, the war on terror has lost international resonance and our campaign to isolate Pakistan has failed. These re-surfacing lobbies think we should abandon the core of our policy towards Pakistan even without any signal of change in Pakistan’s core attitude towards India. They want us to become defensive because of improved US- Pakistan ties and ourselves open the doors to a dialogue with Pakistan to pre- empt US pressure. The usual defeatist attitude cloaked in pragmatic diplomacy. The idea is to dilute the message of Op Sindoor to Pakistan.

Press reports fed by unnamed sources are appearing in our media about Track 2 talks being held between retired Indian generals and diplomats and their Pakistani counterparts in third countries . Lobbies, international and local, seem to be promoting such meetings and the idea of giving them publicity is to mobilise opinion in India in favour of resumption of a back channel dialogue between India and Pakistan. It is argued that these unofficial talks are filling up the vacuum created by the absence of an official level dialogue. Those behind these planted reports make the familiar arguments in favour of re- establishing channels of communication with Pakistan at some level so that trends in thinking can be assessed and potential misjudgments avoided. These Track 2 participants think they are serving a useful cause at a time when the US is rehabilitating Pakistan, Asim Munir has wormed his way into Trump’s favour, the war on terror has lost international resonance and our campaign to isolate Pakistan has failed. These re-surfacing lobbies think we should abandon the core of our policy towards Pakistan even without any signal of change in Pakistan’s core attitude towards India. They want us to become defensive because of improved US- Pakistan ties and ourselves open the doors to a dialogue with Pakistan to pre- empt US pressure. The usual defeatist attitude cloaked in pragmatic diplomacy. The idea is to dilute the message of Op Sindoor to Pakistan.

Press Freedom Index 2026 rankings for South Asian countries: ▫️Nepal - 87 ▫️Sri Lanka- 134 ▫️Bhutan - 150 ▫️Bangladesh - 152 ▫️Pakistan - 153 ▫️India - 157 India is worst country for journalists in South Asia for 2026.

The goal, of course, is that such a playbook never becomes necessary. But the time to sharpen crisis-management tools is before the next crisis begins. Many thanks to those who provided helpful edits - feedback welcome! (9)