The Pakistan-backed terror attack in Pahalgam and India’s subsequent military response through Operation Sindoor in 2025 appeared to shut the door on renewed engagement with Pakistan. But remarks by the RSS leadership in 2026 reopened a longstanding debate: Should India resume dialogue with Pakistan? Here is a snapshot of views from across India’s political and strategic community.

In Favour of Resuming Dialogue

“We are not like Hitler… So we need to keep some doors open. We should vanquish injustice and tyranny, but we should also preserve what is good.”

Mohan Bhagwat, Deccan Herald / PTI, 13 June 2026.

“We should always be ready to engage in dialogue. That is why diplomatic relations are maintained, trade and commerce continue… So we should not stop. There should always be a window for dialogue.”

Dattatreya Hosabale, Press Trust of India,12May 2026.

“Ordinary citizens generally do not have much to do with politics. When friendship develops between the people of two countries, it naturally helps improve relations between the countries themselves. That is why I said earlier that people-to-people contact, whether through Track-II diplomacy or through sporting events, is very important.”

Manoj Mukund Naravane, HW News English, 21 May 2026.

“Track-II channels have been operating with greater intensity than is publicly acknowledged…These conversations often test propositions before they reach official tables. They often give us an idea about Pakistan’s military thinking, through interlocutors with access to Rawalpindi. They allow signalling and testing the temperature that neither government can do publicly.

Happymon Jacob, Hindustan Times, 24 May 2026.

“For India-Pakistan, peace is not weakness, dialogue is not defeat.”

Shashi Tharoor, The Indian Express, 5 February 2026.

“Now here’s the reality. There is a clear line of escalation since the first Balakot attacks to Operation Sindoor, even if tightly controlled from the Indian side, and not so much from the Pakistan side. That escalation is dangerous for both. Some framework, therefore, needs to be considered, learning from the past.”

Tara Kartha, NDTV, 25 May 2026.

Against Resuming Dialogue

“The era of uninterrupted dialogue with Pakistan is over. Actions have consequences.”

S. Jaishankar, Deccan Herald, 30 August 2024.

“Years of dialogue and diplomacy with Pakistan did not produce any result because Pakistan viewed the tool of terrorism as a diplomatic tool to bring India to the dialogue table. That phase is now over.”

Kanwal Sibal, Business Today, 25 June 2025.

“It would be wise for New Delhi to stay the course rather than try to go down the same rabbit hole all over again… The only area where a conversation is perhaps imperative is nuclear security and stability… This is perhaps the only track worth exploring.”

Manish Tewari, The Tribune, 15 June 2026.