New Delhi
Former National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon Friday said it was high time that India changed its way of dealing with neighbourhood and did not get stuck up by its relationship with Pakistan.
There were more important things for India to do and it had achieved success in some areas like counter-terrorism, Mr Menon said in an interaction organised for its members by the Indian Association of Foreign Affairs Correspondents.
“We need to change the way we deal with our neighbors. Do not think that your neighbours are just your neighbours. They are others’ neighbours too. It is a global world,’’ he said.
Mr Menon was of the view that India made a mistake by not responding to Sri Lanka’s request for development of the Colombo Port, and the result was that the Chinese came over and did it.
He said the India’s failure to respond to Sri Lanka became all the more surprising that 83 per cent of its trade was handled by the Colombo port.
The former NSA also said the delay from the Indian side in developing Chanahar port was also not wise, and it would be only in the country’s own interest that the work was expedited.
India was still doing things in a way it did decades ago while the world has changed a lot and doing things much differently, he said.