The Indian government does not officially participate or support any Track II engagements between India and Pakistan and is not aware of such events, Indian Foreign Minister Vikram Misri said on Monday, against the backdrop of reports of several such meetings over the past year.
Speaking to reporters in Seychelles on the sidelines of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit, Al-Masry made three general points – Dozens of Track II meetings are being held around the world on a range of topics, these are private events in which the Indian government is not involved, and such meetings have “no great value” for India.
Masri’s comments came in response to a question about the recent Track II engagement between India and Pakistan reported by HT. He acknowledged the reports and said there was “nothing official” about such meetings.
“First, look, dozens of these types of events are taking place in dozens of places around the world and they address a variety of topics,” Al-Masry said. “So, there is nothing new, nothing special about these events.”
“Secondly, for us, these are private events organized by private parties. There is nothing official about them for us,” he said. “I mean, obviously I can’t speak for the government of Pakistan, but as far as the government of India is concerned, there is no official participation, no official support or participation in these visits,” he added. “And thirdly, we really don’t take any notice of these events. They really don’t hold much value for us,” he added.
Anyone from India who participates in these events, including retired diplomats or military officials and members of civil society, “speak for themselves and represent their own point of view,” Masri said. He said the participants “in no way represent” the view of the Indian government.
There has been no formal and organized dialogue between India and Pakistan since the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which led to the severing of diplomatic ties at that time. Although the two sides have held official meetings since then, they have been unable to reach common ground on resuming formal talks. Informal contacts between senior security officials in third countries led to the resumption of the ceasefire on the Line of Control in February 2021.
Relations witnessed a deep freeze after the Pahalgam terror attack in April 2025, as India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty and imposed a set of punitive measures in the diplomatic and economic spheres.
Track II meetings are, by their nature, informal, non-governmental discussions. Dattatreya Hosabale, a senior RSS official, noted during an interview in May that the government must protect India’s security in the face of the actions of Pakistan’s military and political establishment, but the doors must remain open for dialogue. He added: “But at the same time, we do not need to close the doors. We must always be ready to engage them in dialogue.”
Soon after, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said at an event in Thiruvananthapuram that if India defeated Pakistan “irreparably” in any future war, its people would either be brought into Bharata’s fold or live in peace in their own country. He added that for both scenarios, “the doors of dialogue must always remain open.”
