New Delhi: Senior BJP leader and India Foundation president Ram Madhav has rejected reports claiming that unofficial “Track 2” talks between India and Pakistan were held in Sri Lanka.
The reports had linked a recent event in Colombo to Track 2 discussions, and named participants from both sides, including Madhav, former Army chief M.M. Naravane and former diplomat Ruchi Ghanashyam from India, and former diplomat Sajjadt Haider Khan, former minister Sherry Rehman and retired military officer Isfandyar Ali Khan Pataudi from Pakistan.
In a clarification issued on Friday, Madhav said the Colombo programme was not an India–Pakistan Track 2 meeting but the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) annual South Asia dialogue. He said scholars from India, Sri Lanka, the United States, the United Kingdom, Afghanistan and Pakistan took part.
Calling it wrong to portray a multi-country conference as bilateral talks, he said the report was “fabricated” around an unnecessary issue. Madhav added that he did not attend the two-day event in full and was invited only to speak in one session, after which he left.
