Former diplomat Satinder Lambah, who led the backchannel diplomatic process between India and Pakistan from 2005 until 2014, passed away Thursday night in Delhi.Lambah was 81 years old and had been unwell for about a year.As Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Special Envoy to Pakistan, Lambah held secret talks with his counterpart Tariq Aziz, who had been appointed by Pakistan’s then military ruler General Parvez Musharraf. His role as a negotiator saw the relations between the two countries improve from 2004 to 2008.
During that period, India and Pakistan were said to be close to an accord on Kashmir at the time, and were reported to have exchanged a “white paper” detailing the terms. The bus services and trade between the two sides of Line of Control also began during this period.Post the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai in 2008, the back channel sputtered on until 2014 with Pakistan’s flip flops on tracing and prosecuting the Mumbai perpetrators ensuring a virtual halt to the bilateral engagement.He had earlier served as deputy high commissioner and high commissioner to Pakistan, and was also Joint Secretary on the Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran division at the Ministry of external Affairs.