RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat has said that conflict with Pakistan and China should not result in the permanent severing of people-to-people relations, arguing that political and military disputes can temporarily interrupt such ties but should not turn hostility between states into permanent hostility between their people.Speaking at the 15th anniversary celebration of the India International Model United Nations (IIMUN), Bhagwat was asked whether civilian and student exchanges between India and countries such as Pakistan and China should continue even when political and military relations deteriorate.Bhagwat said that during periods of conflict, citizens must stand behind the course adopted by India’s government and armed forces.”In times of conflict, we have to go with whatever our government and military does,” he said.But he drew a distinction between responding to an immediate conflict and permanently abandoning civilisational and human connections.”Permanent enmity is not the solution,” Bhagwat said.He cited India’s historical links with both countries, pointing to China’s long-standing civilisational exchanges with India and noting that present-day Pakistan had been part of undivided India less than a century ago.”These ties cannot be severed,” Bhagwat said. “They can be put on hold till the conflict is there.”Once a conflict ends, he argued, communication should resume from where it stopped.Bhagwat said India’s approach should not be based on conquering or eliminating other countries but on creating a harmonious relationship through dialogue and assimilation.He also argued that hostility between governments should not automatically be interpreted as hostility between their populations.”It is not that Pakistanis are wholeheartedly enemies of Indians,” he said, adding that the reverse was equally untrue.States, political considerations and international borders could produce conflict, Bhagwat said, but these should be viewed separately from the relationship between ordinary people.At the same time, when specifically asked whether civilian relations should continue during periods involving terrorism, Bhagwat described terrorism as a form of “hidden war” and said it needed to be treated accordingly.His remarks therefore distinguished between maintaining the possibility of long-term civilian engagement and India’s response during an active security confrontation.”Humanity is one,” Bhagwat said, arguing that conflicts may halt relationships temporarily but should not permanently destroy them.