Modi escalates drive to 'isolate' Pakistan at BRICS summit

Tension between the nuclear-armed neighbours has escalated since a September 18 attack on an army base in held Kashmir

Modi's escalated his diplomatic drive to isolate Pakistan at the BRICS summit which was attended by  Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa among others.

Tension between the nuclear-armed neighbours has escalated since a Sept. 18 attack on an army base in held Kashmir, near the disputed frontier with Pakistan, killed 19 Indian soldiers in the worst such assault in 14 years.

India later said it had carried out retaliatory "surgical strikes" across the de facto border that inflicted significant casualties.



Pakistan denied any role in the attack on the Uri army base, and said the Indian operation had not even happened, dismissing it as typical cross-border firing.  "In our own region, terrorism poses a grave threat to peace, security and development," Modi said in his remarks to BRICS leaders who met at a resort hotel in the western state of Goa.

Modi's posturing overshadowed the gathering of leaders of a group originally set up to boost economic cooperation. It followed a productive bilateral summit with President Vladimir Putin of Russia on Saturday that yielded billions of dollars in defence and energy deals.

The BRICS leaders had donned brightly coloured sleeveless jackets, of a style made popular by India's first post-independence leader Jawaharlal Nehru, for an informal dinner on Saturday evening.

They were due later on Sunday to hold an outreach session with leaders from a little-known group of countries from the Bay of Bengal region whose key attribute, from India's point of view, is that Pakistan is not a member.

Lack of strategic restraint 

Modi's hard line against Pakistan marks a departure from India's tradition of strategic restraint, and New Delhi has won expressions of support from both the West and Russia over the army base attack. Yet China, a longstanding ally of Pakistan that plans to build a $46 billion export corridor, has shown public restraint.

Modi and President Xi Jinping also held a bilateral meeting on Saturday and the accounts of their conversation emerging from both sides pointed to key differences of opinion. In one remark reported by the state Xinhua news agency, Xi said that China and India should "support each other in participating in regional affairs and enhance cooperation within multilateral frameworks".



The dispatch went on to refer to the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). This grouping includes Pakistan, which was to have hosted a summit in November that collapsed after India and other members pulled out.

The final BRICS summit declaration was expected to repeat earlier condemnations of "terrorism in all its forms", say diplomats and analysts, but avoid levelling blame over tensions between India and Pakistan.

Modi misleading BRICS countries: Sartaj Aziz

Sartaj Aziz responded to Modi’s uncalled for criticism, saying the Indian PM was misleading the BRICS countries.

"Modi is misleading his BRICS and BIMSTEC colleagues. The Indian leadership is desperately trying to hide its brutalities in the Indian-occupied Kashmir, an internationally recognized dispute on the UNSC agenda,” a Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ statement quoted him as saying.

#PakistanReaction V r unified in fight against terrorism incl against Indian state terrorism&terror financing on Pakistani soil–Adv Sartaj

— Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Pakistan (@ForeignOfficePk) October 16, 2016

Against Indian PM’s remarks that Pakistan sponsors terrorism, the adviser said: “Pakistan joins all the members of BRICS and BIMSTEC in condemning terrorism and reaffirms its full commitment to fight the menace of terrorism without discrimination, including against the Indian state-sponsored terrorism on Pakistani soil.”

Aziz recalled the human rights violations committed at the hands of Indian occupying forces in Kashmir valley and called for implementation of UNSC resolution on the region.

“The people of Indian-occupied Kashmir are being subjected to genocide by India for demanding their fundamental right to self-determination, as promised to the Kashmiris in the relevant UN Security Council resolutions,” he said.