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India, Pakistan NSAs in touch, ‘doesn’t mean being in talks’, says official

The Indian Express has learnt that the diplomatic channels are open, although they are in crisis mode.

Doval had dialled his counterparts from the US, China, the UK, Russia and Saudi Arabia. Doval told his counterparts from these countries that India has no intent to escalate tensions but it is prepared to “retaliate resolutely” if Pakistan does so, it is learnt.

Even as their militaries face off, India and Pakistan are in touch through their National Security Advisors, Ajit Doval and Lt Gen Asim Malik, and their High Commissions.

The Indian Express has learnt that the diplomatic channels are open, although they are in crisis mode. The Indian charge d’affaires in Islamabad, Geetika Srivastava, has been in touch with key interlocutors in Islamabad. She was summoned Wednesday by the Pakistan Foreign Ministry to protest against the Indian strikes on nine terror locations in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

Sources said the two sides have been in touch after US NSA and Secretary of State Marco Rubio had spoken to Doval. A top Indian official, however, said: “Being in touch doesn’t mean being in talks” — downplaying the contact between the two sides.

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It is important to note that Pakistan recently named Lt Gen Malik, the ISI DG, as the NSA. Pakistan’s deputy PM and Foreign minister Ishaq Dar has officially confirmed that the two NSAs have been in touch.

In an interview with Turkish public broadcaster TRT World, Dar was questioned about whether the NSAs had spoken after the overnight action, to which he said: “Yes there has been contact between the two.”

When asked, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said: “I have no information regarding contacts between the NSAs.”

Earlier, Doval had dialled his counterparts from the US, China, the UK, Russia and Saudi Arabia. Doval told his counterparts from these countries that India has no intent to escalate tensions but it is prepared to “retaliate resolutely” if Pakistan does so, it is learnt.

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Doval held separate phone conversations with Rubio, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Russian NSA Sergei Shoigu, British NSA Jonathan Powell, Saudi NSA Musaed Al-Aiban, United Arab Emirates NSA Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Japan’s NSA Masataka Okano and Emmanuel Bonne, diplomatic adviser to the French president.

It is learnt that Doval provided some details about Operation Sindoor. “The NSA briefed his counterparts on actions taken and the method of execution, which were measured, non-escalatory and restrained. He emphasised India had no intent to escalate but is well prepared to retaliate resolutely should Pakistan decide to escalate,” sources said.

Shubhajit Roy

Shubhajit Roy, Diplomatic Editor at The Indian Express, has been a journalist for more than 25 years now. Roy joined The Indian Express in October 2003 and has been reporting on foreign affairs for more than 17 years now. Based in Delhi, he has also led the National government and political bureau at The Indian Express in Delhi — a team of reporters who cover the national government and politics for the newspaper. He has got the Ramnath Goenka Journalism award for Excellence in Journalism ‘2016. He got this award for his coverage of the Holey Bakery attack in Dhaka and its aftermath. He also got the IIMCAA Award for the Journalist of the Year, 2022, (Jury’s special mention) for his coverage of the fall of Kabul in August 2021 — he was one of the few Indian journalists in Kabul and the only mainstream newspaper to have covered the Taliban’s capture of power in mid-August, 2021. ... Read More

Ritu Sarin

Ritu Sarin is Executive Editor (News and Investigations) at The Indian Express group. Her areas of specialisation include internal security, money laundering and corruption. Sarin is one of India’s most renowned reporters and has a career in journalism of over four decades. She is a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) since 1999 and since early 2023, a member of its Board of Directors. She has also been a founder member of the ICIJ Network Committee (INC). She has, to begin with, alone, and later led teams which have worked on ICIJ’s Offshore Leaks, Swiss Leaks, the Pulitzer Prize winning Panama Papers, Paradise Papers, Implant Files, Fincen Files, Pandora Papers, the Uber Files and Deforestation Inc. She has conducted investigative journalism workshops and addressed investigative journalism conferences with a specialisation on collaborative journalism in several countries. ... Read More

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