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India must reopen embassy in Kabul & send High-Commissioner to Pak: Mani Shankar Aiyar

India must reopen embassy in Kabul & send High-Commissioner to Pak: Mani Shankar Aiyar

By Atanu Roy
Kolkata, Sep 26 (UNI) Having been a successful diplomat and served as External Affairs Minister , Mani Shankar Aiyar said India needs to 'engage' with Afghanistan by reopening embassy in Kabul and sending High Commissioner to Pakistan.
He says route to Kabul goes through Pakistan and therefore India must talk to them.
Asked if India needs to be apprehensive about Taliban takeover in Afghanistan vis-a-vis Kashmir, Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar said,"I think it's very unfortunate that we don't have a source of diplomatic information about what's happening in Afghanistan and what are the different points of views being expressed; whom we should cultivate and whom we may ignore. But we can only ignore people on our peril. We have to engage, that is what diplomacy is all about. So I think is very unfortunate that we have a very low level of representation in Islamabad and we don't have any representation at all in Kabul.
When asked as to how much important it is to be educated for a politician in India, Mr Aiyar said, " Most important is to be educated in the reality of India. If you have my kind of education which makes me a 'Macaulay Ki Aulad', I don't think that education is very useful. So there has to be a connection between the reality of India and your education to become a good politician."
On being queried as to which way Indian politics is going, , Mr Aiyar opined ," Unfortunately, the Parliament instead of being a forum for discussion is being converted into a forum of demonstration. And so long as disruption is the characteristic of our democracy, not debate; I think we are heading in a very wrong direction."
Answering about new generation hardly taking interest in politics, Mr Aiyar said he does not think in any country there is too much place for aspiring politicians. "I think even if many youngsters don't want to come into politics enough for us to be able to anticipate that our democracy will continue indefinitely into the future."
He further stated that Mr Modi is likely to lose the 2024 elections, a debatable topic but the decisive factor is not going to be development issues but religious ones and this is the hypocrisy of BJP. We have to face the fact that the single biggest challenge before our country is maintaining our secularism.
On the charge that Indian politics is now counting on 'divide and rule', Mr Aiyar stated that ," This is not the politics of those parties which are in opposition, this is the politics of those who are in power. Therefore I agree with this as far as half our country is concerned but I don't agree with it with respect to the other half."
On his meeting with Mamata Banerjee who is contesting by-election from Bhowanipore Assembly, Mr Aiyar clarified that he had not met her but is a founder member of Trinamool Congress. "But I remained at the party only for three weeks because I couldn't follow the Bengali in which she and her colleagues will speak. So I said, what am I doing here! I went off to fight an election as an Independent and I lost it. That was a very difficult period."
Praising him as a prolific columnist when asked about his plans of editing any new book compiling numerous columns that he has written, Mr Aiyar told," That there are many collections but they don't sell. People are not interested because columns are only for that week. The subject goes out of interest and whatever you write is not read. I have written my Autobiography and I think I'm in my closing phases and hoping that by next month. Within a few days from now, I think I'll be able to complete it. But then it going to take at least a year to get published. So around this time of the next year, my 'Autobiography' will out to be on the stands.
About Prime minister Narendra Modi 's double standards of touring the US and visiting Joe Biden in the White House and not allowing Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee to visit Rome to attend Rome World Peace Conference, Mr Aiyar expressed shock, saying why should a Chief Minister be denied an opportunity of going abroad for a completely valid purpose. Mr Modi can go where he likes and those who want to welcome him are welcome to welcome him. But a situation should not arise in which a Chief Minister is insulted as Mamata Banerjee is being insulted.
Mr Aiyar who was India's first consul-general in Karachi, Pakistan issued a record three lakh visas for people of Pakistan to visit India.
UNI XC SY 1617

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