Stable Pakistan in India's interest

ALLAHABAD: Diplomat Vivek Katju on Thursday said that India was always for a peaceful, stable, strong and prosperous Pakistan.
An unstable nuclear Pakistan could be dangerous as a neighbour, he said and added that during his visit to Pakistan, former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayi had jotted down his desire for a peaceful Pakistan in the visitor’s book at the historical Nishan-e-Pakistan site.
Delivering a special lecture jointly organised by Allahabad University and Union ministry of external affairs, former secretary (west) of external affairs ministry stressed on meaningful dialogue between the two neighbours, “otherwise it will create many problems and lead to frustration.” Katju said, “The Indo-Pak relationship is not going to change. Even the joint statement issued in Ufa, Russia point towards it.”
Attributing the conflict of policies between India and Pakistan to basic differences in the approach of both countries, he said that Pakistan feels threatened by the geographical size and economy of India. “We cannot have same policy for Pakistan and other neighbouring countries due to involvement of public sentiments. Besides, Pakistan’s basic nature is greedy,” he said.
Outlining relationship with Afghanistan, Katju said that the new Afghan Government was not keen to accord India the status that it enjoyed during Karzai administration. “However, the country should continue to pursue her interests and engage all groups in a meaningful dialogue and continue to support Afghanistan in its capacity building and reconstruction. Interests of India and big international players will be jeopardized if Pakistan manages to gain a meaningful centre position,” he said while touching upon India’s relationship with Iran, Iraq, Israel and ISIS.
“The entire region has to be viewed afresh in the backdrop of a nuclear Iran. Even US-Israel and US-Arab relationships need to be keenly observed before making any strides,” he said.
Earlier, in his presidential remarks, vice-chancellor NR Farooqi highlighted the three issues affecting the foreign policies -- safeguarding borders, creation of stable democratic set up in a country and balance of economic growth. He also highlighted the importance of a composite dialogue. Professor-in-charge (academics), R K Singh welcomed the guest and introduced the theme.