Govt committing mistake by talking to Pak: Brajesh Mishra

Former NSA Brajesh Mishra spoke to Swati Chaturvedi of Zeenews.com about the problems India has with Pakistan.

Ex-National Security Advisor and former Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Brajesh Mishra, in an interview with Swati Chaturvedi of Zeenews.com on the programme Kahiye Janab spoke at length about the problems that India has with Pakistan. Swati: Pakistan has deceived us every time. But we are still talking to that country and have not learned our lessons yet. Why?

Brajesh Mishra: The government is committing a mistake. Despite the fact that all the Indian Prime Ministers have tried to improve ties with the neighbouring country by cooperating, they have to accept defeat at all times. For instance Indira Gandhi released several soldiers when Zulfikar Ali Bhutto announced that Pak will accept the Line of Control as the border. And the moment troops left, they started talking about making nuclear weapons. The country that is a victim is being told to give concessions to the country perpetrating terror. Our government says if Pakistan has some concerns, we are willing to talk. Is the Indian public considered a fool? Swati: Today every incident of terror has the direct or indirect hand of Pakistan which has also been labelled as a failed state interested only in exporting terrorism. Your comments? Brajesh Mishra: Whether it is a failed state or not is a separate matter. But when Musharraf was told that dialogue and terror cannot continue hand in hand, he said that any territory where he has influence won’t promote terror. This made our then PM Atal Behari Vajpayee give his seal of approval to the process of dialogue. However, in 2005 when Musharraf came to India, he backtracked and instead said that we will not let terrorism stop dialogue. Then after the events succeeding 26/11, Pakistan said no to dialogue, and now suddenly what has happened? Swati: Our PM feels that we will gain by talking to Pakistan. Does Koot Neeti run on hope? Brajesh Mishra: Never. Till you don’t understand reality or you ignore it, you will always lose. We must have understood in our 60 years of experience that in Pakistan, Army is ruling. Democracy in that country has only been in name. The Army there has a total hold on India policy, Afghan policy and nuclear weapons. It does not let anyone trespass its domain. So the nukes there are absolutely safe. When there were reports that our Foreign Secretary will invite Pakistan Foreign Secretary here, it was implied that Pak Army would be aware. Yet the United Jehad Council’s meeting in Muzaffarabad that followed was a signal that Jehad would continue. Swati: But we have still not stopped talking to Pakistan. Is it owing to US pressure? Has our nation become a stooge of America? Brajesh Mishra: It is not just USA. Even UK is involved in this. Both these countries are jointly exerting pressure thinking that till Pakistan is worried about Hindustan, they won’t be looked at. This has only encouraged it more. Initially it was just Kashmir, now it is the Indus Water treaty, Balochistan and the demand for India to leave Afghanistan. The Army Chief of that country has himself stated that Pak Army is India-centric. So if this is the attitude, how can we talk? Swati: Pakistan has time and again talked about non-state actors. Here we just have Bollywood actors. What is all this non-sense? And is US helping Pakistan? What is the role of the Army there? Brajesh Mishra: I just told you that United Jehad Council meeting was held in Muzaffarabad and only those terrorists were present who have been nurtured by the ISI and are still acting at its behest. So if the ISI and the Army are backing the jehadists, then how can you succeed? US has given USD 12bn as aid to Pakistan. It has even sent it some F-16s recently. America is not anti-India. By helping Pakistan, it is only promoting its own national interest. But China is an ally of the enemy country. China and Pak are one against India. This time we have been left all alone. The only way out is to strengthen internal defences so much so that both these countries understand that pressure on India will no longer be able to work. Swati: Shiv Shankar Menon was our Foreign Secretary at Sharm-el Sheikh where for the first time, Balochistan was brought to the agenda. Now he is special envoy to the Prime Minister. They say that this U-turn was based on national interest due to Menon? Brajesh Mishra: I don’t talk about personalities. When M K Narayanan was NSA even then Sharm-el-Sheikh was held. It is not a matter of personalities. Government servants just act on orders. Swati: And who is giving the orders? Brajesh Mishra: The PM is giving the orders. Swati: If all this is true, then why is Home Minister P Chidambaram and Defence Minister A K Antony telling the government via the CCS that what you are doing will send the wrong signal. Does there exist divergence in the views of the government? Brajesh Mishra: Our Foreign Minister has given an interview to two TV channels saying that we are talking but no dialogue yet. If Pakistan says something about Kashmir, and we say we are ready to address its concerns via talks, then what is this if not the start of a composite dialogue process? It is useless to concentrate on image-building now. We must instead build our military capacities by way of getting the latest technologies. Economic growth will be useless in its absence. National security and economic growth share a cause-effect relationship. Adapted by Ritam Banati