India diplomacy

India has been on a diplomatic blitz, but it isn’t going to win any friends doing so. First the Ministry of External Affairs rejected an offer from UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres for his good offices to resolve the Kashmir dispute by saying there is “no role or scope for third party mediation”. Then the ministry called in the Turkish ambassador to protest against the Turkish president’s remarks on the situation in India-Occupied Kashmir. President Recip Tayyip Erdogan, during his tour of Pakistan last week, had said the situation in IOK was worsening because of the sweeping changes New Delhi introduced in the region, and also that Turkey stood in solidarity with the people of Kashmir. India told the Turkish envoy that Erdogan’s comments could affect bilateral relations and that they lacked any understanding of the history of the Kashmir dispute. An ironic observation, given that leaders from India’s ruling BJP regularly butcher history in comical fashion.

India previously put curbs on palm oil imports from Malaysia in retaliation for Kuala Lumpur having the gall to speak in favour of the oppressed people of Kashmir, and has threatened trade reduction with Turkey as well. As for the UN chief’s comments, the same External Affairs spokesman also claimed that India hopes Guterres will “emphasise on the imperative for Pakistan to take credible, sustained and irreversible action to put an end to cross-border terrorism against India”. Another rich statement given that Guterres had praised Pakistan for allowing UN observers on this side of the Line of Control to do their work, while India is still blocking most foreign diplomats from coming anywhere near Kashmir. Perhaps it is unsurprising then that Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi noted the flaw in the Indian argument and said New Delhi was just doing whatever it could to avoid the issue. He also reiterated that Kashmir is an international issue and India cannot enforce its illegal unilateral decisions there.

Unfortunately, that is not quite true. Clearly unable to win a war of words with the people of Kashmir, India has very much begun enforcing its illegal decisions by going to war with Kashmiri Muslims.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 20^th, 2020.

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