‘Failed state at war with itself ’ - The Statesman

Gopalaswami Parthasarathy, popularly known as G Parthasarathy, is a career Foreign Service Officer, who retired from service in 2000.

Gopalaswami Parthasarathy, popularly known as G Parthasarathy, is a career Foreign Service Officer, who retired from service in 2000. Before joining the Indian Foreign Service (IFS), he was

a commissioned officer in the Indian Army from 1963 to 1968. He had served as Ambassador of India to Myanmar (1992-95), High Commissioner of India to Australia (1995-98), High Commissioner

of India to Pakistan (1998-2000), and High Commissioner of India to Cyprus (1990-92).

Parthasarathy had also been deputy secretary in the Foreign Secretary’s Office from 1976 to 1978. He was appointed as the spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs, and as information

adviser and spokesman in the Prime Minister’s Office from 1985 to 90. In an exclusive interaction with Sushil Kumar of The Statesman, he talked about Pakistan, the US, China, and India

sending delegations to various countries post Operation Sindoor.

Q. How do you look at Pakistan, an adversary that has had an antiIndia stance for long?

A: Since independence, Pakistan has suffered from an inferiority complex. It was, in fact, born of the inferiority complex of Mohammad Ali Jinnah and Liaquat Ali Khan towards Mahatma Gandhi

and Jawaharlal Nehru. They (the people of Pakistan, not all) suffer from an acute inferiority complex when it comes to India. Pakistan then becomes cozy with some super power or the other –

it was the United States before, and now it is China. They boast about their nuclear weapons programme, but the design, assembly and instructions for usage of those weapons are provided by

China. It (Pakistan) got the material for its nuclear weapons by stealing from the enrichment facilities of European countries. So, they have achieved nothing legally.

Q. What, according to you, led them to their current situation?

A. Their thesis that Islam alone can keep the country together was torn apart when Bangladesh sought and obtained independence in 1971. They had started with reasonable economic growth, but

soon with their quest for Islamism, that is, being a part of the Islamic world, ruined them economically. They sank because rather than focusing on their economy, they were focusing on

fostering terrorism in India. After being divided into two, they started a low intensity war against India, and failed. In the 1965 war, they had highly superior weapons, but they could not

prevail, and we pushed them back. At every step, they messed up. Their economy will collapse. Pakistan was not created by those who were in Pakistan, it was created by people like Mohammad

Ali Jinnah and Liaquat Ali Khan who went there from here. I think that it is a failed state. For the longest period of life, it was at war with itself. We did not create a Bangladesh

problem. They themselves created it.

A. My own view has been that just expect the least from them. Have a quiet relationship with them. The fact is this, hatred for India is driven by their army. It would be counterproductive

if we start seeing every Pakistani as an enemy. There are people who want a good relationship with India, but do not lower your guard, their army survives on hatred for India. But if they

continue with terrorism, give them back. We have to be tough and pay them back in kind for terrorist and separatist activities they undertake.

Q. Why is US President Donald Trump adopting a tough posture against India of late?

A. Well, Trump is universally known to be a mercurial individual. You cannot be sure of anything that he will do, and we can take it as it comes, because the fact is, at the level of people

and at the level of economics, we have come pretty close together and the Americans need us as much as we need them. So, it is a good equal relationship, and if he is not even talking about

the role of the Indian community in the US, it is shocking. I go there every year, it is the most integrated community in the US, and it has contributed to the US. Trump is unpredictable and

he acts on whims and fancies and not on careful thoughts but that is what he is. We should take this as part of “Trumpism” .

A. It is a low-cost containment of India by China. Pakistan provides low-cost facilities to China in containing India. There would be no Pakistan nuclear programme without the assistance of

China. Pakistan falls back on China for military and economic assistance and China obliges. No other country has given others designs of nuclear weapons as China has done for Pakistan.

Q. Your thoughts on India sending multi-party delegations to various countries post Operation Sindoor.