India’s rise

There was a time when Pakistan’s per capita income was better than in regional countries, including India. It had more clout in major international forums. The Organization of Islamic Countries, though headed by Saudi Arabia, was in reality run by Pakistan. World leaders never dared to ignore Pakistan whenever they undertook visits to South Asia. They would always include Pakistan in their itinerary when they travelled to India. Such was the country’s influence that even when Pakistan was under sanctions in the wake of the 1999 military coup, US President Bill Clinton made a stopover in Islamabad when he visited India in 2000. Clinton might not have shaken hands with a military dictator on camera and stayed there for a few hours but the fact remained he did visit Pakistan.

After the 9/11 attacks, the US used its influence to broker a deal between Pakistan and India on truce along the Line of Control (LoC) in the disputed Kashmir region. The idea behind the move was to make sure Pakistan solely focused on its western frontier to deal with the blowback of the US invasion of Afghanistan. Being the frontline state in the US-led War on Terror, Pakistan continued to receive funding from Washington and its allies. International financial institutions were generous in doling out loans to Pakistan with little or no conditions.

While we developed the habit of surviving on dole-outs from outside, India began correcting its economic fundamentals. Pakistan did not realise that with the rise of China that poses a direct threat to the US hegemony, the world would soon undergo a geostrategic shift. With new geostrategic realities, India has become vitally important for the US and its Western allies. Not only that India’s growing economic footprint at the global stage has compelled the West to do business with New Delhi but Pakistan’s long-term friends in the Arab world also joined hands with New Delhi. The growing Indian clout on the global stage was on full display when it hosted the G20 summit in New Delhi last weekend. It was the first summit of G20 in South Asia since the group was founded to deal with economic challenges.

The G20, which now can be called G21 with the inclusion of the African Union as its full member, represents 86% of the global GDP and two-thirds of the global trade. India has come a long way from being mocked as ‘snake charmers’ to be recognised as one of the global powers. Such was the turn of events that when British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak landed at New Delhi for the G20 summit, BBC presenter aptly put it — Britain is now a junior partner of India. One could argue that despite many achievements under Modi, India has regressed in terms of freedom of religion and human rights issues. There was criticism within India of how the Modi government erected temporary cloth walls in front of many slums to hide them from view and, in some cases, residents had been relocated. Beggars had been evicted from the heart of the city and street dogs were caged.

This may provide some stuff to Pakistani commentators to launch a broadside against India. However, this cannot change the reality that India is on the rise despite all its ills while Pakistan has no way out of the current impasse. With a population of over 240 million, Pakistan is not a small country by any means. The Pakistani delegation would have been sharing the table with G20 delegates in New Delhi had the country followed prudent policies. It’s time for introspection!

Published in The Express Tribune, September 11^th, 2023.

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