New Delhi: The government has rejected all claims that it authorised or backed any official Track II engagement with Pakistan.
Such engagement, even if held, has “no official participation and holds no value”, India’s foreign secretary Vikram Misri has clarified.
New Delhi is firm on its position regarding terrorism and the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, and holds that unofficial individual interactions do not represent a policy shift, as reported by News18.
“There is nothing official about them as far as we are concerned. I cannot speak for the government of Pakistan, but as far as the Government of India is concerned, there is no official participation, no official support or involvement, in these visits,” Misri said.
“They really don’t hold much value, as far as we are concerned. Dozens of these kinds of events take place in dozens of places around the world on a whole variety of subjects,” he said, adding, “There’s nothing new, nothing special abou
t these events. As far as we are concerned, these are private events organised by private parties,” he said.”
“Anybody from India who is participating in these events, whether it is retired diplomats, retired military officials, members of civil society, when they participate in such events, they speak for themselves and they represent their own point of view,” he said.
“They do not in any way, they cannot in any way represent the view of the government of India. We really take no cognisance of these events. They really don’t hold much value, as far as we are concerned,” Misri said.
Informal, unofficial, and non-governmental dialogues designed to resolve conflicts and build trust between hostile groups is known as Track II diplomacy. It engages influential citizens, academics, retired officials, and NGO workers, allowing parties to explore creative solutions without the constraints of official state protocols.
There have been reports that at least four rounds of back-channel interactions took place across international venues, including Doha, Bangkok, and London, involving high-profile retired figures.
A prominent meeting on the sidelines of an International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) conference in Colombo has been highlighted. Former Army chief General M M Naravane and BJP leader Ram Madhav were participants in the conference and allegedly interacted with Pakistani delegates.
Madhav has, however, rejected the classification of the Colombo event as a “Track II dialogue”, clarifying it was a multilateral regional conference. He has called the reports a “complete spin”.