Interaction with Mr Adam Thomson, the British High Commissioner to Pakistan

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Vivekananda International Foundation welcomed Mr Adam Thomson, the British High Commissioner to Pakistan on 26^th November 2013 for an interaction with leading security and foreign policy strategists of India. The team for interaction was headed by Ambassador Prabhat P Shukla, former Indian Ambassador to Russia and the Joint Director of VIF, and included Vice Adm. (Retd) K K Nayyar, Lt. Gen. (Retd) Ravi Sawhney, Mr C D Sahay (former Secretary R, Cabinet Secretariat), Amb. Rajiv Sikri, Vice Adm. (Retd) Raman Puri, Lt. Gen. (Retd) Gautam Banerjee, Brig. (Retd) Vinod Anand, Mr. Sushant Sareen, Mr. K G Suresh, Dr. Anirban Ganguly and Mr Arka Biswas.

The roundtable focused on the evolving political situation in Pakistan. Emphasis was laid on the development of equations between the civilian government and the security establishment in Pakistan, and its likely impact on India, Afghanistan and the entire region. Also discussed was the role of the US, and China in the policy making calculus of Pakistan. Pakistan is going through a process of change, and its current priorities are reviving the economy and containing the threat of religious extremism. There is no certainty regarding how long the process might take, and there are many challenges that could change the dynamics of the process inside Pakistan. The VIF team was of the view that India would and should formulate its judgments and policies on the basis of actions on the ground rather than words.