PAKISTAN READER

Akshath Kaimal Akshath Kaimal is a Research Assistant at the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS), Bengaluru, and is part of the NIAS Pakistan Reader and Africa Studies team.

India’s foreign policy has evolved from the principles of non-alignment to a strategy of multi-alignment, seeking to protect national interests through strategic autonomy and pragmatic engagement with multiple global powers.

India’s major foreign policy pillars and Amb Raghavan’s insights
First, while India’s foreign policy dictum during the Cold War was characterised by non-alignment, Ambassador P.S. Raghavan argues this was never a “wooden doctrine of equidistance”, but rather a tool to maximize maneuvering room. Since the fall of the USSR, however, the country has transitioned into a strategy of “multi-alignment”. This involves actively engaging with multiple global players, like the US, Russia, China, Japan, and Europe, to navigate a complex matrix of cooperation, coordination, and rivalry. The evolution of India-US relations alongside traditional India-Russia relations, even as the US and Russia remain severely at odds, exemplifies this pragmatic ability to pursue national objectives without making exclusive alliances.

Second, India has placed great importance on strategic autonomy to preserve its right to make decisions based on national priorities, even in the face of international pushback. An example of this was the West’s condemnation of India’s nuclear weapons tests in 1998, which resulted in US sanctions. India held its ground while expanding cooperation elsewhere. This autonomy ultimately paved the way for the 2008 civil nuclear agreement with the US, which Ambassador Raghavan highlights as a masterclass in “cross-linkages” - a foreign policy tool where concessions in one area yield benefits in another. In this case, the US agreed to make an exception for India by relaxing obligations in return for access to the nuclear energy market, thereby legitimising India's strategic autonomy.

Third, India has prioritised its neighbourhood, as a stable immediate environment is essential for global outreach. As the largest economy in South Asia, India must manage the “small neighbour syndrome”, where smaller countries fear Indian dominance and often attempt to balance it by leaning toward China. Ambassador Raghavan suggests India must practice “unequal reciprocity” - doing more to ensure stable relations without compromising its core interests. While India applies this to most neighbours, Pakistan remains a persistent challenge due to its support for cross-border terrorism. Consequently, India’s neighbourhood policy has expanded to bypass Pakistan's closed land routes; notably through the International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC) and Iran's Chabahar port, which opens crucial trade access to Afghanistan, Central Asia, and Europe.

Fourth, managing the rise of China is a central strategic challenge. China’s rapid economic and military growth has fueled expansionist policies, presenting heightened security concerns for India. Ambassador Raghavan specifically points to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) - which passes through Indian-claimed territory - as fundamental sovereignty issues and major geopolitical threats. On the flip side, China is India’s largest trading partner. To manage this asymmetry of power, Amb Raghavan advises a dual strategy: cooperating with China on shared interests like the democratisation of global economic architecture, such as through BRICS, while simultaneously building coalitions with like-minded Indo-Pacific powers, like the US, Japan, and Australia, to counter Chinese dominance.

Fifth, economic diplomacy forms the foundational bedrock of India’s foreign policy, serving its primary national objective: achieving rapid and equitable economic growth. To elevate its status to a developed nation, Ambassador Raghavan asserts that India must proactively use its foreign policy to attract foreign capital and technology, while simultaneously maximising its access to global markets and natural resources. This requires expanding bilateral and multilateral networks to create equities abroad. In practice, this means leveraging strategic partnerships with the US and the European Union as vital sources of investment and sophisticated technology. At the same time, India must secure its massive energy requirements by maintaining strong ties with West Asia - which accounts for nearly 70 percent of its energy imports and provides USD 30-40 billion annually in remittances  - as well as Russia, where Indian firms have invested billions in oil and gas fields. Ultimately, India's multi-aligned foreign policy is a pragmatic tool designed to transform international relations into effective drivers of economic development.

A critique of Amb Raghavan’s inputs
First, India’s policy of strategic autonomy is facing a severe stress test, revealing the practical limits of multi-alignment. Ambassador Raghavan argues that India must manage the “triad of great power relations” by ensuring that cooperation with the US does not force it to dilute its strategic partnership with Russia. However, as the Russia-West standoff intensifies, this balancing act has become exceedingly complicated. For example, India’s purchase of Russian oil during the Ukraine conflict attracted immense pressure and the threat of secondary sanctions from the US last year, eventually prompting New Delhi to rethink its strategy and reduce its Russian oil imports. While India was able to retain some degree of decision-making power, this incident highlights a vulnerability Raghavan himself notes: the “asymmetry of power” currently favors the great powers. US economic leverage did enough to alter a major foreign policy decision in New Delhi, demonstrating that strategic autonomy is not absolute.

Second, Ambassador Raghavan’s proposed strategy for managing the immediate neighbourhood - relying on “unequal reciprocity” may be insufficient against modern geopolitical realities. He accurately expands on the “small neighbour syndrome”, noting that South Asian countries often cultivate ties with China to balance India's dominance. To counter this, he suggests India should make greater concessions to build trust. However, a critique of this approach is that it underestimates the sheer scale of China's economic statecraft. From the Hambantota port crisis in Sri Lanka to shifting political allegiances in the Maldives, Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) provides infrastructure loans that India simply cannot match financially. Consequently, even when India practices unequal reciprocity and refrains from interfering, smaller neighbours are still drawn into China's economic orbit. That said, it still remains to be seen whether China’s BRI will yield large-scale successes.

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