Ex-Indian envoy admits Pakistan’s recovery exposes Delhi’s perception gap
Islamabad: Former Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Sharat Sabharwal has argued that Pakistan has “registered a significant geopolitical recovery in the last year or so” while India misread the shift and remained comparatively passive.
According to Kashmir Media Service, Sabharwal, writing in The Tribune, noted that “Pakistan is nowhere close to collapse,” with civil-military discord receding and the “spectre of a sovereign default” easing after IMF accords. He said terrorism persists in some regions but is “less menacing than… the first decade of this century,” and stressed that “Pakistan is anything but isolated” due to transactional collaboration with the US and ties with Iran, Saudi Arabia and China.
The commentary highlighted that “Field Marshal Asim Munir has acquired a firm grip on the polity,” aiding internal consolidation.
Sabharwal wrote that India’s strategic community reacted to Pakistan’s gains “with… disbelief and a sense of insecurity,” having long expected Pakistan’s collapse. He conceded that “our demands on cross-border terror do not register… as strongly as they did in the past” and said “India’s room for manoeuvre was constrained by our tilt towards the US-Israel entente.”
India’s “relatively passive response to the conflict is a cause for introspection,” he added, pointing to missed chances to lead in multilateral forums. While warning that “Pakistan’s structural fault lines will assert themselves again,” Sabharwal concluded the regional order is shifting and India faces a balancing challenge between alliances and independent diplomatic leadership, requiring recalibration.
