Lambah: a voice for peace departs

Satinder (Satti) Kumar Lambah – an outstanding Indian diplomat who played a leading role in Track-II diplomacy during 2005-08 and was an architect (along with Tariq Aziz, the National Security Advisor to Gen Musharraf, and later Foreign Secretary Riaz Muhammad Khan) of the effort towards forging peace between India and Pakistan which nearly came close to fruition – died on Thursday 29th June, 2023 in Delhi. Satti, as was he fondly called by his moniker, belonged to Peshawar. He was a grandson on paternal side of RB Ramnath Lambah, owner of a leading private company Lambah Pvt Ltd and who also remained President, Peshawar Municipal Corporation. His mother was a daughter of Engineer Rai Bahadur Dina Nath who got the iconic mansion at No 1, Islamia Road designed by a European architect and lived in it. The building today houses the official residence of the Cantonment Executive Officer, Cantt Board, Peahawar.

Lambah was the Deputy High Commissioner in Islamabad and later served as the Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan. He held many important foreign service posts, including that of Ambassador to Afghanistan and Moscow.

By far his most crucial assignment was that of Special Envoy on Pakistan to Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh. In this capacity he played a critical role under Track-II diplomacy with Tariq Aziz, continued later by others, through secret negotiations spread over many years from 2004 up to 2010, which led to a considerable thawing of Indo-Pak relations under the composite dialogue.

It was essentially these behind-the-scenes genuine efforts to segregate the core disputes from unremitting mistrust and high wire domestic political risks involved on both sides towards such a goal, and to adopt a pragmatic, step-by-step approach to dispute resolution that nearly clinched the intractable issue of Kashmir. A ‘white paper’ had been evolved agreeing upon self-governance in both the regions of Kashmir. There was progress on trade and travel, and discussions on vital issues like cross-border interventions and reducing nuclear risks also went forward.

Unfortunately, however, incidents like the 2008 Mumbai attack and the domestic political cost that very few politicians or leaders were willing to pay involved in closer ties with the other side and seeming national capitulation that any agreement appeared to pose, led to the failure of these talks.

But whenever relations between the two countries improve – which is imperative for reasons of the economic deficit that nearly one billion people of the subcontinent are suffering from for the last three quarters of a century – the name of Lambah will be remembered as a devotee of peace. It is a sad commentary upon human psychology and history that in the sphere of relations between empires, nations and countries, it is the names of great victors and warriors that stand out and are remembered. Few personages who strive in quest for peace and amity between different regions or states are given the recognition and acclaim that they deserve.

In the blustering sea of long and sustained mistrust and enmity of interstate relations between India and Pakistan, the few men who strived behind the scenes, silently but relentlessly, to keep the flame of peace and hope alive, often go unnoticed and forgotten. Yet it is to their pluck, heroism and commitment to human welfare through peace, though unrecompensed, that the teeming millions of this region must ultimately be grateful, when the candle of peace is ultimately lit up to bring a ray of hope on the faces of ‘those who stand and wait’ for a better morrow.

Today the storms of hatred, bitter polarisation and intolerance stalk our region and the throats of doves of peace are everywhere being choked and throttled. The narrative of humanity and peace is on the retreat, being ruthlessly buried. In these dire times the memory of those like Lambah is evermore pressingly pertinent to rekindle the zest and act as the flag-bearer of human struggle for peace.

A scion of the land of the Pashtoons, Lambah probably owed his ingrained belief in the dividend of peace and the unrelenting cost of strife, to the values of his ancestral lands. He knew that eternal enmity does no one any good and causes avoidable human immiseration to individual and society.

Having ancestral roots with the province of NWFP, now KP, and in particularly the historic city of Peshawar, Lambah always yearned to see the land of his peers. He maintained close relations with old family friends but also faced difficulties in movement which Pakistani embassy staff also faces in India. He understood that enmities are not greater than human beings; enmities are man created but in the end they can and should be brought to an end by man himself as no higher or external hand can bring about peace and human welfare if the genuine willingness and compromise of those involved is not present.

A person who tries to make peace between men or nations understands and values not only one’s own position and interests but that of the adversary. That is what is wanted if strides towards the seemingly illusive goal of friendship are to be attained.

Whoever furthers the cause of peace is deserving of a pride of place no matter what his beliefs or nationality. Credit is due where it is deserved. Sadly, only a few brave voices can muster the courage, in this atmosphere of mutual recriminations, to speak up for normalcy and amity. The loss of people like Lambah therefore becomes even sadder. The doves are flying away. Vultures becloud the light of the sun. But hope springs eternal in the human breast.