At the centre of the latest wave of speculation over Track-II dialogue between India and Pakistan, RSS veteran Ram Madhav on Saturday dismissed reports of any such engagement at his level.
Terming the reports, a “wrong portrayal” and a “non-story”, Madhav said he was in Colombo to attend an event organised by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) and not for any Track-II dialogue.
Reports had suggested that Ram Madhav and former Army Chief General M M Naravane were part of a Track-II meeting involving participants from Pakistan in Colombo, allegedly organised by a British think tank.
The reports also claimed that US Under Secretary of State for South Asia Paul Kapur had joined the participants.
Reacting to the reports, Madhav said, “Totally wrong portrayal. It was not any Track-II dialogue. It was the IISS Annual South Asia Dialogue, which was attended by scholars from India, Sri Lanka, the US, the UK, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Even officials attended this annual dialogue in the past. No Track-II is held with so many countries.”
“I did not attend the two-day dialogue. I was invited to speak at one session, which I did, and left. Complete spin to a non-story,” he added.
Meanwhile, sources said Indian, Pakistani and other South Asian strategic experts have been attending conferences organised by Western think tanks for many years.
The conference in Colombo was part of a series of such events.
The event is traditionally held in Bahrain but was shifted to Colombo this year due to the fragile situation in West Asia amid the conflict involving the US, Israel and Iran.