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Journalism of Courage
While acknowledging that the sense of cynicism in India over Pakistan dragging its feet on punishing perpetrators of Mumbai attacks was understandable,Prime Ministers Special Envoy on Afghanistan and Pakistan SK Lambah Friday said disengagement with Islamabad was not a wise choice.
Pakistans polity is fragile and its interest in peace at this stage is uncertain. But not engaging a neighbour with 180 million people,strong antagonism towards India,growing nuclear weapons arsenal,and worsening instability is not a wise choice, Lambah said,delivering the R N Kao memorial lecture at RAW headquarters in Delhi.
Stressing the need for confidence building measures to ensure stability in the relationship with Islamabad,Lambah said,We can defend against hostility,but instability in the neighbourhood can have unpredictable consequences.
The envoy said India was doing much in this direction. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has taken measures to improve relationship with Pakistan and a lot of progress is made… the ball is in Pakistans court. We will be willing to pick up the leads, he said.
Lambah also stressed the need to better engage other neighbours. We need to continue to engage all stakeholders to build a stable and peaceful Afghanistan, he said. Sri Lanka also requires our continued political and economic support to achieve a durable and inclusive political settlement… The process of economic integration of our neighbourhood needs to be enlarged and intensified…
