Ajay Bisaria, a veteran diplomat who served as India’s High Commissioner to Pakistan and then Canada before retiring in June 2022, has been in the news recently over his book ‘Anger Management, The Troubled Diplomatic Relationship Between India And Pakistan,’ which critically examines how the relationship between the two countries has evolved since partition.
Clearly a labour of love and extensive research combined with his personal diplomatic experience in the country, the book is must read for anyone trying to understand the bilateral relationship and the art of diplomacy in general.
In a candid conversation with StratNewsGlobal, he concedes that diplomacy has its limits, and that sometimes kinetic, coercive action is necessary while dealing with a pesky neighbour. He also argues that while democracy is desirable, “our business is to promote our national interest, and we need to deal with Pakistan as it is, not how it should be.”
To find out why he thinks Pakistan’s ‘poly-crisis’ will continue indefinitely, how Imran Khan’s inexperience led to his ouster, and why China will continue to use Pakistan despite the much vaunted CPEC lying dead in the water, watch the full interview.
In a career spanning three decades and counting, Ramananda (Ram to his friends) has been the foreign editor of The Telegraph, Outlook Magazine and the New Indian Express. He helped set up rediff.com’s editorial operations in San Jose and New York, helmed sify.com, and was the founder editor of India.com.
His work has featured in national and international publications like the Al Jazeera Centre for Studies, Global Times and Ashahi Shimbun. But his one constant over all these years, he says, has been the attempt to understand rising India’s place in the world.
He can rustle up a mean salad, his oil-less pepper chicken is to die for, and all it takes is some beer and rhythm and blues to rock his soul.
Talk to him about foreign and strategic affairs, media, South Asia, China, and of course India.
