Pakistan on Thursday responded to remarks made by Dattatreya Hosabale, secretary-general of India’s Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and ideological mentor of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in an interview with Press Trust of India, where he said there should always remain “a window for dialogue with Pakistan,” urging space for renewed engagement between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
VIDEO | When asked how India should deal with Pakistan, RSS General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale, in an exclusive interview with PTI, says, "...If Pakistan is like a pinprick trying to create incidents like Pulwama, etc., we have to answer appropriately according to the… pic.twitter.com/AxpH1oBWuw
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) May 12, 2026
Speaking at a weekly briefing, Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi called such voices “a positive development.”
Weekly Press Briefing by the Spokesperson @TahirAndrabi
— Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Pakistan (@ForeignOfficePk) May 15, 2026
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“We hope sanity will prevail in India and the war-mongering, the belligerence that has been emanating… will fade away and pave the way for more such voices,” he said.
He said Pakistan would welcome an “efficient reaction” to such calls, while declining to confirm reports of any recent back-channel contacts.
“I do not wish to comment on those. And if I were to comment on it, there would be no back-channel,” he said.
Andrabi added that Pakistan remained hopeful about regional diplomacy and ongoing engagement on peace and security issues.
“Yes, the peace process is intact. It is holding on. We remain engaged. We remain hopeful,” he said.
He also said Pakistan continues to monitor the situation involving its nationals aboard a hijacked vessel off Somalia and is working for their safe repatriation.
However, analysts, former military officials, and academics take a more guarded view, pointing to continued concerns over cross-border militancy, disputes over water sharing, and what they describe as India’s increasingly assertive regional posture, arguing that these factors continue to limit the prospects for any meaningful diplomatic breakthrough.
Former Pakistan Ambassador to Germany and High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit, writing on X, said Pakistan must “refuse to be hornswoggled this time,” arguing that any dialogue should remain focused strictly on Jammu and Kashmir and terrorism-related issues, warning that discussions on confidence-building measures would only help India further consolidate its control over Jammu and Kashmir, and cautioning against engagement “for the sake of engagement.”
Speaking to Naya Daur, former diplomat Imran Ali said, “It is too premature to thank the Indians till they don’t reverse the annexation of Kashmir plus also don’t take back their unilateral and illegal suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty.”
Ejaz Haider, a senior journalist and political commentator, said Pakistan has always welcomed any possibility of substantive dialogue with India to resolve outstanding disputes and issues. He said India has, however, “wavered between talking for the sake of talks or not talking at all.”
He added that brief conflicts in 2019 and again in May 2025 showed that the use of force, combined with diplomatic disengagement, “does not solve anything” and “only breeds violence.”
According to him, India’s neighbourhood policy is “in disarray,” and its approach has undermined regional frameworks such as the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, even as it participates in other multilateral platforms like the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the BRICS grouping.
He further said that without meaningful relations with its immediate neighbours, India cannot expect regional stability, and argued that the only sustainable path forward is for India to “respect the regional states and their interests.”
Air Marshal (retd) Arshad Malik said, “Nobody wants war, but there’s no point engaging just for the sake of optics.” He said any meaningful dialogue must address the “longstanding core issues, especially Kashmir,” adding that it must also include Balochistan, where he alleged India has been “actively sponsoring terrorism,” a charge he said is reflected in “its own media and films at times openly glorifying it.”
He further said India’s repeated threats to weaponise or subvert Pakistan’s water supply in violation of the Indus Waters Treaty have deepened mistrust and reinforced perceptions that coercion, rather than coexistence, now drives policy.
Arshad Malik added that over the years, the Indian public sphere has become increasingly hostile toward Pakistan, driven largely by what he described as the state’s nationalist rhetoric. He said that unless the Indian state takes serious steps to reverse this trajectory, “no genuine engagement is likely to work.”
Marvi Sirmed, a human rights activist, said any suggestion for dialogue between India and Pakistan “should be welcomed whoever offers it,” adding that it is especially important at a time when the region remains “deeply polarised after last year’s military escalation.” She said both countries are nuclear-armed and that sustainable peace “cannot be built through perpetual hostility, media-driven hyper nationalism, or war rhetoric,” but only through consistent political engagement and people-centred diplomacy.
She further said that meaningful dialogue must go beyond security concerns and include humanitarian issues, cross-border trust-building, protection of minorities, and respect for democratic freedoms on both sides. “I strongly support a fresh initiative for dialogue if it exists,” she said, adding that civil society in both countries should urge their governments to advance peace initiatives.
She also suggested beginning with restoring diplomatic relations to their pre-2019 status, calling it “the lowest hanging fruit.”
Commodore (retd) Ehsan Ahmed Khan, Deputy President MCE, said Pakistan welcomes recent voices in India supporting dialogue and peaceful engagement. He said Pakistan remains committed to comprehensive bilateral dialogue, including on terrorism, where it holds what he described as serious concerns regarding Indian-sponsored destabilisation through “Fitna-ul-Khawarij” and “Fitna-ul-Hindustan,” referring to the arrest of Kulbhushan Jadhav as evidence of such activities.
He further said that while Pakistan firmly opposes any form of coercion or aggression, it supports peaceful coexistence and remains steadfast in advocating the Kashmiri people’s right to self-determination under United Nations Security Council resolutions.