Veteran diplomat Satinder Kumar Lambah, who played a major role in the India-Pakistan talks that led the two sides to a Kashmir deal, died after a long illness in New Delhi on Thursday night . He was 81 years old.

Lambah, a capable but low-key civil servant who helped shape relations with Pakistan, Afghanistan and Russia, served as Special Envoy for Afghanistan under Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee from 2001 to 2004 and became Special Envoy under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2005 – a reflection of his ability to work with different political dispensations.

In a career rich in history, he was part of the team that launched the new Indian mission in Dhaka after the creation of Bangladesh in 1971, led the Indian delegation that visited Kabul to restore the India’s diplomatic presence after the overthrow of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in late 2001 and helped forge the Strategic Partnership Agreement with Russia in 2000 during his tenure as Ambassador in Moscow.

In a tweet conveying his condolences to Lambah’s family, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar said: “He was one of our most distinguished diplomats and a true mentor to the generations that followed him.”

Lambah, known to both colleagues and reporters as “Sati”, is likely to be remembered for his role in talks with his Pakistani counterpart Tariq Aziz, who was appointed by military leader Pervez Musharraf. During secret visits to Pakistan and meetings in third countries, Lambah and Aziz hammered out the draft agreement on what became known as the “four-point formula” for solving the Kashmir problem.

Read also | Kashmir nearly struck a deal with Pakistan: ex-PM Lambah’s envoy

This formula – which envisaged the solution of the Kashmir issue without redrawing the borders through demilitarization, free movement through the line of control, autonomy and a joint supervision mechanism – could not be converted into an agreement formal largely because of internal political problems in Pakistan. from 2007 which weakened Musharraf’s grip on power and led to his ousting.

Unrest in Pakistan meant Prime Minister Manmohan Singh could not go ahead with a planned visit during which the draft deal would likely have been unveiled. Subsequent developments, including the 2008 Mumbai bombings by the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba and a series of attacks blamed on Jaish-e-Mohammed, brought India-Pakistan relations to a historic low.

The effec a solution that does not seek to redraw the border or change the Constitution; but which renders the border irrelevant, allows trade, communication, contact and development of the Kashmiri people on both sides and which ends the cycle of violence”.

Lambah also said that he had worked with six prime ministers on Pakistan-related issues over the past 35 years, and that each had “prioritized improving relations with Pakistan” and that this “has helped us helped to move forward”.

In an interview with Hindustan Times in 2015, Lambah said the two sides had “agreed that there would be no reference to the UN resolution or a plebiscite in Kashmir” and that the borders “cannot be redesigned”.

Despite the setback in Kashmir, successive governments retained faith in Lambah’s expertise on India’s western neighborhood, which had its roots in his origins in Pakistan. Lambah was born in the northwestern city of Peshawar in 1941 in then undivided India, and his stint as Joint Secretary (Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran) and two posts in Islamabad – as Deputy High Commissioner of 1978 to 1981 and High Commissioner from 1992 to 1995 – helped him forge an extensive network of sources and connections that served him well in later negotiations on sensitive issues.

Among those contacts was former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, whom Lambah got to know as a protege of then-military ruler Zia-ul-Haq. Sharif hosted a luncheon for Lambah the day after presenting his credentials as high commissioner, and Sharif’s successor, Benazir Bhutto, did the same when Lambah completed his term three years later – yet another another reflection of the diplomat’s ability to work with politicians from different backgrounds. spectrum.

Besides serving as the envoy to Hungary and Germany in the 1980s and 1990s, Lambah played a crucial role during his first visit to Russia in forging closer cooperation in various fields. This included negotiations in the mid-1990s which led to cooperation between India and Russia in the oil sector. Subsequently, he helped facilitate Oil and Natural Gas Corporation’s (ONGC) investment in Russia’s Sakhalin oil field.

Lambah played a key role in the preparations for the Non-Aligned Movement Summit hosted by India in 1983 and the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in New Delhi the same year. He also led a committee on the reorganization of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Missions in 2001 and many of its recommendations have been implemented.