Dialogue needed to tackle Rohingya issue, not criticism: FS

Smita Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 26

Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar on Thursday advocated dialogue with Myanmar on the Rohingya crisis instead of sharp condemnations.

Responding to a question at a Carnegie India seminar on ‘Connecting the Bay of Bengal- India, Japan and regional cooperation’, the Foreign Secretary called the exodus from Rakhine state into Bangladesh a matter of concern.

“Our objective is to see how they can go back to their place of origin. It is not going to be easy. We are talking to Bangladesh and separately engaged with Myanmar,” said Jaishankar.

He said, “This is a situation, which is better addressed through practical measures and constructive conversations rather than doing very strong condemnations, having checked a condemnation box move on to the next one. We actually feel this needs much more sober realistic locally sensitive approach.” 

Batting for regionalism, Jaishankar also sought to dismiss comparisons with China on infrastructure projects in the region. Stressing that projecting competition with China does no justice to India, he pointed to the problems that countries are facing with Chinese financial mechanisms on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) 

“India has been a pioneer of connectivity in many ways , and I am not even talking about Grand Trunk road, which came up later. We have more ownership of Silk Road than anyone else. We may have lost that branding at some point. We have a certain view of how connectivity projects should come about,” said the Foreign Secretary.

“Many of the concerns we articulated in the summer have become broader international concerns. We hear it in Japan, US and Europe,” remarked Jaishankar taking a dig at BRI.

The Foreign Secretary said that India will have to play a lead role as one of the fastest growing economies to drive South Asian prosperity. He underlined that India cannot be simply a follower or abstainer on the global stage but must speak up on leading issues.

Japanese ambassador in Delhi Kenji Hiramatsu too advocated for openness and transparency in the Indo Pacific region. “India plays an important role in development of the open Indo-Pacific strategy. We are interested that the rule of law and norms prevail in this region, especially in the maritime domain,” he said.