event
Carnegie India

India-Pakistan Ceasefire Agreement: What's Next?

Wed. March 3rd, 2021
Zoom Webinar
India and the World

In a joint statement issued on February 25, India and Pakistan reaffirmed their commitment to the 2003 ceasefire agreement. This comes in the wake of increasing violations and regular exchanges of fire between Indian and Pakistani troops along the Line of Control (LoC) and the International Border. The announcement followed a rare conversation between the director generals of military operations (DGMOs) of both countries over the established military hotline.

Can India and Pakistan translate their stated intentions for "mutually beneficial peace" into reality? Further, how can the ceasefire agreement be viewed in a wider geopolitical context?

We hosted D.S. Hooda, T.C.A. Raghavan, Indrani Bagchi, and Rudra Chaudhuri for a discussion on the implications of the recent ceasefire announcement between India and Pakistan. The event was moderated by Srinath Raghavan.

Foreign PolicySouth AsiaIndia
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event speakers

D.S. Hooda

Lt. Gen. D.S. Hooda (retd) is the former General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Indian Army's Northern Command. He was the Army Commander during the Chumar incident along the LAC in 2014, and during the launch of the surgical strikes in September 2016. He is also a senior fellow for Military Strategy at the Delhi Policy Group and a co-founder of the Council for Strategic and Defense Research.

T.C.A. Raghavan

Dr T.C.A. Raghavan retired from the Indian Foreign Service in December 2015 while Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan (2013-15). He had earlier served as Deputy High Commissioner in Pakistan (2003-2007) and High Commissioner to Singapore from 2009 to 2013. During his last posting in New Delhi (2007-09) in the Ministry of External Affairs Dr Raghavan was Joint Secretary dealing with Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran. He has also served in Kuwait, the United Kingdom, and Bhutan. Posts earlier held in the Ministry of External Affairs include Director of the Office of the External Affairs Minister (2000-2003). He was awarded a PhD by the Jawaharlal Nehru University in 1992 for his dissertation relating to the economic history of India. His current interests are historical research, strategic analysis and the diplomatic and intellectual history of modern India. He writes, lectures and participates in discussions on issues relating to Indian and South Asian diplomatic history, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan and South East Asia. He is the author of (i) Attendant Lords, Bairam Khan and Abdur Rahim- Courtiers and Poets in Mughal India, awarded the Mohammad Habib Memorial Prize by the Indian History Congress in December 2017. (ii) ‘The People Next Door- The Curious History of India’s relations with Pakistan’. (Harper Collins, 2017). His latest book is entitled "History Men: Jadunath Sarkar, G.S. Sardesai, Raghubir Sinh and their quest for India's Past" (2019). He assumed charge as Director General, Indian Council of World Affairs on 24th July, 2018.

Indrani Bagchi

Indrani Bagchi is the diplomatic editor of Times of India. Indrani covers daily news on foreign affairs, the foreign office, as well as interpreting and analyzing global trends with an Indian perspective. She writes news stories; opinion articles; news features; and a blog, "Globespotting". She covers India, US, China, Pakistan, terrorism, nuclear weapons, and national security issues, among others. She joined the Times of India in 2004. Earlier, Indrani was associate editor for India Today, a premier news magazine. Indrani started her journalism career at The Statesman, where she was the weekend editor, before moving to The Economic Times in Calcutta to edit the Metro Magazine. Having graduated from Loreto College, Calcutta University, Indrani has been a Reuters Fellow at Oxford University. In 2010, Indrani was awarded the Chang Lin-Tien fellowship by the Asia Foundation to study US-China relations at Brookings Institution, Washington DC. She is a Fellow of the third class of the Kamalnayan Bajaj Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.

Rudra Chaudhuri

Director, Carnegie India

Rudra Chaudhuri is the director of Carnegie India. His research focuses on the diplomatic history of South Asia, contemporary security issues, and the important role of emerging technologies and digital public infrastructure in diplomacy, statecraft, and development. He and his team at Carnegie India chair and convene the Global Technology Summit, co-hosted with the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India.

Srinath Raghavan

Nonresident Senior Fellow, Security Studies Program

Srinath Raghavan is a nonresident senior fellow at Carnegie India. His primary research focus is on the contemporary and historical aspects of India’s foreign and security policies.