In the high-stakes chessboard of South Asian geopolitics, few public figures offer candid assessments that challenge dominant narratives, given the political sensitivity and risk of backlash in an increasingly polarized environment.
A.S. Dulat is among the rare voices urging New Delhi to reconsider what he describes as an ineffective strategy of isolating Pakistan.
The former chief of India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) spent decades in the intelligence establishment, shaping New Delhi’s covert approach to Pakistan and Kashmir.
Now speaking on BBC Urdu, Dulat has delivered an assessment that cuts through years of official rhetoric: India’s policy of diplomatic isolation and strategic pressure on Pakistan has failed to achieve its intended outcomes.
This is not opposition commentary or external critique. It comes from a former intelligence chief who served under Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and has long remained closely engaged with India-Pakistan strategic affairs. His remarks directly challenge key assumptions underpinning Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s foreign policy approach.
India’s Attempt to Isolate Pakistan Has Failed, Says Dulat
Dulat reportedly stated that India has pursued a sustained effort to isolate Pakistan internationally through diplomatic lobbying, engagement with global forums, and a terrorism-focused narrative. Despite these efforts, he suggested, the strategy has not succeeded in significantly weakening Islamabad.
Instead, he warned that India risks finding itself increasingly constrained within an evolving regional and global environment.
Former RAW chief A.S. Dulat has said that India has not been able to isolate Pakistan on the international stage.
In remarks featured in a BBC video, he pointed to Pakistan’s increasing diplomatic engagement and visibility in global affairs.
Video: BBC#India #Pakistan… pic.twitter.com/pVjaDMCzSG
— Pakistan Economic Network (@NetPakistan) May 16, 2026
He also rejected a long-standing assumption in parts of Indian strategic thinking that Pakistan would eventually fragment under internal pressure.
“Pakistan will not disintegrate or fall apart. That is never going to happen,” Dulat said, calling such expectations outdated and detached from geopolitical realities.
According to his remarks, even instability in regions such as Balochistan does not fundamentally alter Pakistan’s structural resilience or continuity as a state.
Coercive Strategies Have Delivered Instability, Not Strategic Gain
Dulat argued that years of hybrid operations, military signaling, and diplomatic pressure have produced limited strategic gains for India, while contributing instead to heightened regional instability.
He suggested that neither military confrontation nor sustained diplomatic isolation has advanced India’s long-term interests in managing relations with its nuclear-armed neighbor.
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His comments reflect a growing strand of thinking among some Indian strategic analysts that coercive approaches have diminishing returns in dealing with a nuclear-armed state with evolving regional and international partnerships.
He also noted that Pakistan’s recent diplomatic engagements, including outreach efforts and mediation roles, have helped improve its international visibility, complicating the narrative of isolation.
Dialogue as the Only Viable Path Forward
Dulat’s central argument is pragmatic: sustained dialogue and communication remain the only viable framework for managing India-Pakistan relations.
He emphasized that peace must be rooted in normalization rather than episodic engagement, pointing to shared cultural and historical ties, particularly in regions such as Indian Punjab.
He has previously advocated backchannel diplomacy and cautioned against missed opportunities for engagement, including periods such as the mid-2000s when limited progress was possible.
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According to BBC Urdu reporting, he also referenced Kashmir, where he has previously supported political engagement and the restoration of governance structures alongside security measures, rather than a purely force-driven approach.
Across his remarks, the underlying message remained consistent: prolonged hostility has yielded little strategic benefit.
A Broader Strategic Signal
For global observers, particularly in Washington and other capitals tracking South Asia, Dulat’s intervention extends beyond domestic Indian debate.
It highlights the limitations of attempts to permanently sideline a neighbouring state in a region defined by geography, nuclear deterrence, and interdependence.
As the United States deepens strategic ties with India through frameworks such as the Quad while maintaining functional engagement with Pakistan on regional security, Dulat’s remarks underscore a recurring reality: South Asian stability cannot be framed as a zero-sum equation.
In that sense, his intervention joins a broader, if limited, set of voices arguing that sustained stability will ultimately require engagement rather than exclusion.
Whether this perspective gains traction within policymaking circles in New Delhi remains uncertain.
However, his remarks make it harder to ignore a long-standing strategic debate within India itself.
At the same time, Pakistan’s own strategic thinkers, many of whom, emphasize the need for reciprocal engagement and stability in South Asia, need to reciprocate such calls, especially because Islamabad plays the mediator in the U.S.-Iran conflict, a much broader diplomatic role beyond the region.
Kiran Asim is a writer who covers the U.S., Europe, South Asia, and the Middle East. Her reports and analyses look at the geostrategic issues and contemporary developments and their economic and political implications. She also writes about society and education.
