Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju says we are a natural soft power, we don’t need to be hawkish. PHOTO: AFP
An Indian minister on Monday appealed for a changing trajectory in relations between India and Pakistan, saying the country need not be ‘hawkish’ towards its neighbour. “We are a natural soft power. We don’t need to be hawkish. We should not tinker with our international image of being a soft power,” said Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju while speaking at a public lecture here.
“I think Indians and Pakistanis should not be obsessed with each other. If we need to be a superpower, we need to let go of our Pakistan obsession,” said Rijiju, who is from India’s northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, bordering China. He has long maintained that India must take China more seriously than it is now. The minister suggested that the ‘Pakistan obsession’ is fuelled by media coverage, saying, “We should not jump (in response to TV debates). TV debates are not taking India to the right place.”
Published in The Express Tribune, January 20th, 2015.
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