Pakistani army acts as custodian of ideologies, religion: Former diplomat DP Srivastava

Former Indian diplomat D.P. Srivastava stated that Pakistan's Army challenges the concept of sovereignty by acting as a custodian of ideologies and religion, rather than focusing on national frontiers like the military forces of other nations.

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Srivastava also slammed the radical Islamist ideology in Pakistan, which pits the nation against its neighbouring countries, including India.

In an interview with IANS, the former diplomat also talked about Pakistani Army's Field Marshal General Asim Munir's April 16 speech, just days before the Pahalgam terror attack, in which 26 innocent people lost their lives at the hands of terrorists belonging to The Resistance Front (TRF), an offshoot of Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba.

He hailed Operation Sindoor and said that it reflected a major shift in India's security doctrine. He also commented on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's G7 invite.

The following are the excerpts from the interview:

IANS: Could you tell us something about your book "Pakistan -- Ideologies, Strategies and Interest:

D.P. Srivastava: My postings took me to Karachi, Pakistan, and the early 1990s. I dealt with Pakistan, among other issues, in the UN division of the Ministry of External Affairs for eight years in the '90s, and during this, I dealt with Kashmir talks to the Pokhran nuclear test and Kargil. The inspiration for the book came from my posting to Karachi, where I heard the phrase ‘Nazaria-e-Pakistan', which means the ideology of Pakistan. This is the very phrase used by Gen Munir, who mentioned this in his speech on April 16, days before the Pahalgam terror attack. My book traces the interpretation of ideology and elite interest in the making of Pakistan's domestic and foreign policy.