India, Pak conduct Track 2 diplomacy

NEw DelhiIndian and Pakistani delegations comprising politicians and retired armed services officials and diplomats participated in caterpillar track 2 discussions on the margins of a regional certificate group discussion organised in capital of sri lanka this week by a London-based think tank, people familiar with the matter said.The security conference organised by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) featured delegates from several countries, including India, the Maldives, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and the UK. The Indian and Pakistani delegates held separate discussions spread over a day and a half at the Hilton Colombo, the people said on condition of anonymity.The Indian delegation included Ram Madhav, who served as national general secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) during 2014-2020 and is currently president of India Foundation, a New Delhi-based think tank, Gen MM Naravane, who served as Indian Army chief during 2019-2022, and Ruchi Ghanashyam, a former Indian envoy to the UK who was among the first women diplomats to serve in the high commission in Islamabad in the late 1990s, people familiar with developments in New Delhi, Colombo and Islamabad said.The people said that the Pakistani side included a serving diplomat from the foreign ministry — director general (South Asia and Saarc) Sajjad Haider Khan — and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader and former minister Sherry Rehman, who also served as ambassador to the US during 2011-2013, and Maj Gen (retired) Isfandiyar Ali Khan Pataudi, who served in the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and commanded a mechanised division. The PPP is part of Pakistan’s ruling alliance led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s PML-N party.This was just the latest in a string of back-channel contacts between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of the four-day conflict between the two countries in May 2025. The hostilities erupted when India targeted terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan in retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack in April last year.HT first reported on April 17 that Indian and Pakistani strategic experts, parliamentarians and former diplomats have participated in at least four back channel meetings since the conflict in May 2025, with the first such engagement held just two months after Operation Sindoor in London in July last year. That engagement too was organised by IISS.There are currently no formal or structured official engagements or talks between India and Pakistan, though a hotline between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two sides is operational and the officials speak every Tuesday.The Track 2 discussions in Colombo did not produce any significant outcomes, one person familiar with the talks said. Among the issues that were discussed were terrorism, sharing of waters of cross-border rivers, strengthening of communications during crises, and possible steps to manage and prevent escalation of tensions, the people said.US assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian affairs S Paul Kapur, who visited Sri Lanka during June 21-24, attended a dinner for participants of the conference organised by IISS, the people said. Some of the Indian and Pakistani delegates too were present at this dinner with a limited list of invitees, they said.Efforts to reach the Indian delegates named above for comment elicited no response. A social media post on June 24 by Naravane offered proof of travel to Colombo. Indian officials declined to comment on the development. One official made it clear that such back channel contacts should not in any way be linked to formal talks.“We have a clear and consistent position — terrorism and talks cannot go together. There is no official connection to these contacts,” the official said.There were some efforts to portray the discussions as a Track 1.5 engagement because of the presence of the director general (South Asia and Saarc) from Pakistan’s foreign ministry, but this was dismissed by the people, who pointed out there were no serving officials on the Indian side.The back channel engagement in Colombo came a little more than a month after senior RSS functionary Dattatreya Hosabale noted during an interview in May that the government should protect India’s security and dignity in the face of the actions of Pakistan’s military and political establishment, and said: “But at the same time, we need not close the doors. We should always be ready to engage them in a dialogue.”Hosabale also argued that trade, commerce and visa-related exchanges should continue in some form to ensure room for communication between the two countries. Days later, Naravane had backed Hosabale’s comments while talking to the media and said dialogue and people-to-people connections between India and Pakistan are important. Naravane also said people-to-people contacts, “whether through Track 2 diplomacy or through sporting events”, are important.The people said Sherry Rahman and Isfandiyar Ali Khan Pataudi, who is the uncle of Bollywood star Saif Ali Khan, have been part of many of the back channel engagements held since last year. The Indian representation at the contacts has been more varied, including some sitting MPs, representatives of think tanks and at least one member of the National Security Advisory Board.