I am not sure why but the Indian state finds the idea of international mediation distasteful. The distaste extends to both the mediator and the parties who need mediation. We know this because of our insistence — under all Indian governments, I should add — that outstanding issues between two nations must be resolved bilaterally.

This stance has particular reference to one neighbour. And our contempt for that neighbour, currently mediating between the US and Iran, was recently expressed by our external affairs minister, who used the pejorative ‘dalaal’ to describe them. So, we won’t brook dalali, but what we will do, to solve a problem that involves us and affects us, is not clear at the moment.

We are involved because we are suffering as the rest of the world is, in terms of both prices and shortages, but we are content to be onlookers and hoping that the crisis will resolve itself, or someone else will resolve it, so that things go back to normal for us.

That is the way India has decided to approach the ongoing war and we can agree or disagree whether India could have or should have done more or something different.

I wanted to write about the other approach, the one that is not being deployed. We don’t need to speculate about what that might be because the previous government left us a document that informs us what it should be.

On 4 November 2013, then Prime Minister........

© National Herald