India’s Loss is Pakistan’s Gain

N. P. Upadhyaya ( Aryal)

Biratnagar, Nepal: The unexpected has happened for India.

And the conduct of the international diplomacy doesn’t obey to the Indian dictates.

Several political setbacks have hit the Indian regime at a time in the recent days and weeks.

It may have not even been in the minds of the Delhi hawks that a country in the far flung Europe (considered to be very friendly to India as per the Indians only) too gave a slight hint to India that on some internationally recognized issues, the European country had sharp differences with Indian standpoints.

The German Foreign Minister has set the political ball rolling. It was almost a high sounding blast that almost shook Delhi’s power corridors.

The Voice of America (VOA) dated October 9, 2022, reports that the “German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, in a rare backing for Islamabad’s stance on the territorial rivalry, reiterated that Berlin had a “role and responsibility” with regard to the tension over Kashmir”.

She obviously set the international political ball running in the highest possible speed.

Better late than never, the German Minister Annalena Baerbock on October 7, 2022 making in Berlin a special reference to the India Occupied Jammu and Kashmir stated, “Germany supports the U. N. role in resolving the Kashmir dispute, and praised the LoC (Line of Control) cease fire agreement of February 2021, and also called for a “political” dialogue between India and Pakistan”.

German FM’s remarks made in Berlin must have come to India as a bolt from the blue as India takes Germany as its darling and had hoped that this country shall never ever go against Indian stances on international issues such as that of Kashmir’s disputed territory.

Indian irritation must have taken a new height as FM Annalena has mentioned the role of the UN and also talked of “political dialogue” in between the two nations who claim their sovereign rights over Kashmir.

The use of the word “dispute” by the minister from Germany appears to have aggravated India to the hilt in that the Kashmir issue, as India takes it for granted, is not an issue of dispute at all.

For India and Indians, Kashmir entirely belonged to India and that the part or for that matter the portion of Kashmir which falls in the territory of Pakistan too is a forcibly occupied landmass by rival Pakistan.

What must have pained the Indian establishment much, let’s presume with whatever experience we have collected so far, that the German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock spoke all these in front of the Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto and that too at a joint press conference held in Berlin in the early days of this October.

This must have been too much for the “deputed” policeman of South Asia. This was not all.

More to come:

FM Annalena told straight that her country, Germany has a role and responsibility with regard to the situation of Kashmir. Therefore, we support intensively the engagement of the United Nations to find peaceful solutions in the region”.

To add fuel to the fire, the German statement on Kashmir came immediately after the Germany-Pakistan bilateral talks wherein she without chewing word said that “ Germany has a role as well a responsibility” apparently hinting at the resolution of the Kashmir dispute in an amicable manner.

Does she hint that Germany is ready for mediation? Will India accept German mediation? 

In her statement what is also to be carefully noted that Germany too deems the role of the United Nations was urgent and necessary.

In saying so she must have hinted the UN Secretary General, Antonio Guetteras to implement the Security Council resolutions made over the past decades for the early resolutions of the overly stretched Kashmir dispute.

For reasons unknown to the intellectuals across the globe, why the UNSC resolutions made in the past have never been brought into its execution is what has been puzzling the minds of the literati in the world which, as a net result, then allows the men of letter across the world to “suspect” the very motive of the UN international body.

So far as I recall, a couple of UNSC resolutions were made for resolving the Kashmir dispute once and for all during the time of Indian Prime Minister Pundit Nehru, however, with the dillydallying practices of Nehru himself and his successors allowed “playing space” to the UN body which in turn allowed others to “accuse” that the UNSC body was controlled by India in many more ways than one.

Or else, the UNSC has made resolutions for holding a plebiscite.

The UN may not have any design, let’s guess, to alter its own previous resolutions, however, the visible reluctance of the UN body itself in sorting out the Kashmir issue for good does tell so many things unspoken.

But this time the German Foreign Minister’s straight call for early resolution is something which the UN body can’t hush-hush the matter as it used to do in the past.

By the way, Pakistan too has come of its age and the UN Body too can’t summarily keep the Kashmir issue under the carpet.

Ms. Annalena referred to Pakistan FM Bilawal who expressed concerns on the Kashmir dispute during the bilateral talks which encouraged German FM to state, “There are tensions as [Mr. Bilawal Bhutto] described, so we encourage Pakistan and we encourage India to follow the track of the ceasefire, to follow the track of the United Nations, and to intensify the political dialogue, and also the political and practical cooperation in the region”.

Thus she had carrots for both the rival nations but the suggestion to sit in a dialogue with Pakistan must have aggrieved India as usual.

Writes India’s veteran media woman Suhasini Haider, October 8, 2022, that “agreeing with Ms. Baerbock on the U.N. role, the Pakistani Foreign Minister Mr. Bilawal Bhutto said that peace in South Asia is not possible without the “peaceful resolution of the Jammu and Kashmir dispute, in accordance with the U.N. resolutions, in accordance with international law,” and even sought to draw a parallel between “unilateral actions in Ukraine” and “unilateral actions in Kashmir”, in reference to the government’s August 5, 2019 reorganization of the State.

Perhaps Pak FM BB put forth his stance at a joint press conference after the conclusion of the Berlin-Islamabad bilateral talks.

The Berlin-Islamabad bilateral talks and the emergence of the issuance of the official statement in the German Capital mean something for the UN body which can’t and shouldn’t be ignored for long.

Looking from the South Asian perspective, what is guaranteed is that the two rival nations in South Asia have fought several wars for Kashmir and yet Kashmir remains as a flash point which may time and again bring the two hostile nations, India and Pakistan to the war fronts.

At the end, the German Minister said that her country, Germany supports “intensively the engagement of the United Nations” to find a peaceful solution to the dispute”.

All these put together, India received a high voltage shock from a country from whom India had not expected this much advice.

The US too explodes on Kashmir:

In fact, two political bombshells of high magnitude shook the South Block earth in the recent days.

In an unbelievable rare gesture, the US Ambassador based in Islamabad, Pakistan headed towards disputed area of Kashmir.

The controversy erupted, according to Voice of America ( VOA) dated October 9, 2022, that “when Donald Blome, Washington’s ambassador to Islamabad, made a three-day visit ( 2-5 October) to the Pakistan-administered part of Kashmir, in the divided Himalayan region. Pakistan refers to the area under its control as Azad (meaning free) Jammu and Kashmir, or AJK”.

New Delhi’s ear drum must have flattened when it heard the US Ambassador Donald Blome saying from Pakistan administered “Azad Kashmir” as AJK-a word that is anathema to the Indian establishment.

It was a Himalayan surprise for the entire India’s expansionist Administration.

Perhaps the US send some high and serious diplomatic “signals” to India through the visit to Azad Kashmir.

As far as this scribe recalls, Ambassador Blome’s visit to Azad Kashmir could be the first ever one from the sitting envoy of the US and that too based in Islamabad to have entered into the Pakistan administered territory of Kashmir thus allowing “political commentators” guess that the US policy on Pakistan after the ouster of Imran Khan has not only improved but attained a new height that has stunned New Delhi’s hawks.

The Indian annoyance must have reached its pinnacle when the visiting US envoy paid a visit to the Dak Bungalow in Muzaffarabad, which has been turned into a memorial for Muhammad Ali Jinnah after he visited it in 1944.

This was not all.

After visiting the Dak Bunglow, the US envoy Tweeted,” “The Quaid-e-Azam Memorial Dak Bungalow symbolizes the cultural and historical richness of Pakistan and was famously visited by Jinnah in 1944. I’m honored to visit during my first trip to AJK.” -DB #AmbBlome #PakUSAt75 1/3.

The US envoy even interacted with the local people and some students.

In an official statement, the US Embassy said Donald Blome’s visit to Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Oct. (2-4/5) was to “promote the US-Pakistan partnership and highlight the two countries’ deep economic, cultural, and people-to-people ties” writes Islamuddin Sajid for the Turkish new agency AA dated October 5, 2022.

New Delhi’s earth shook when during the US Ambassador’s brief stay in Kashmir, he met with AJK Prime Minister Tanveer Ilyas and representatives from academia, business, cultural, and civil society organizations.

Isn’t it sufficient to unnerve Delhi? Perhaps yes.

The sudden visit of the US envoy Donald Blome to Muzzaffarabad has come at a crucial time when India for various known and unknown political reasons is pretty annoyed with Washington when the latter approved an F-16 aid package to rival Pakistan in the name of “countering” terrorism.

In a way, the US aid package meant for Pakistan could be taken as a grand departure of the US policy acquired on Pakistan in the recent years more so when Imran Khan was the Prime Minister.

Some rumors even had it that one American minister Donald Lu remained instrumental in dismantling IK’s regime through the express orders of the Apex court of Pakistan.

Since then Imran Khan believes that he was ousted from the Chair through a grand design which comprised of the US and domestic political forces that were “close” to the US administration.

However, whatever may have been the case internal to Pakistan, the US’s fresh “political logical slant” towards Pakistan bodes not only well for Pakistan but for the entire South Asia’s regional stability.

Moreover, the US envoy’s Donald Blome’s sudden visit to Muzaffarabad does also tells that not only Pakistan but Kashmir dispute also, better late than never, is now in the penetrating eyes of the US administration.

To recall, Minister Donald Lu had stated that Imran Khan’s exit from government remains will only improve its somewhat “cold” ties with Islamabad.

The US appears to have kept its promise if Donald Lu correctly said then to the Pakistani envoy Assad Mazeed in Washington in one of his meet in April this year.

This does mean that PM Khan’s visit to the Russian Federation in February third week this year was almost a Khan’s crime?

The fact is that the Russian visit, we are told, had been finalized much ahead of his trip to Moscow and that PM Khan had no inkling to the happening of the Russian attack of sovereign Ukraine.

These are matter internal to Pakistan so let’s not poke our nose.

What is more than pleasing is that along with Germany-a very powerful country in Europe and a distinguished member of the European Union, the US is also on board in sorting out the overly stretched issue of the disputed territory of Kashmir.

We recall, the first highest dignitary from the US to have visited Muzaffarabad-the capital of Pakistan administered Kashmir was the US Congresswoman representing from Minnesota, Ms. Ilhan Omar in April this year and now the sitting Ambassador from the US visits the same place and apparently annoys Delhi’s hawks who take Washington as their private property to which it is not.

Neither Berlin nor Washington belongs to Delhi as these world Capitals decide and look into the matters seriously on their own.
Delhi’s dictates have no place either in Berlin or in Washington.

In sum, all these events in series that have happened in Berlin or in Muzzaffarabad give abundant clue that “all is not well” in between Delhi and Washington.

Knowledgeable people across the globe opine that it is the “obduracy” and the excessive “arrogance” of the Indian Minister S. Shankar which more often than not irritates the US administration officials.

Minister Shankar’s son is an American citizen and his wife is Japanese thus he in himself two thirds of the US designed Security apparatus-the QUAD that includes India obviously.

Mr. Shankar at times even brings into use some rough and tough words while discussing Delhi-Washington bilateral talks which must have irked the US authorities.

In addition, his “double play” on matters of Ukraine crisis, dealings with Russia and visible variations in utterances on some key international issues may have irked the US for sure.

India’s “intense love” with the Russian Federation and PM Modi’s “telephonic talks” with Ukrainian President Zelensky too must have its role in deteriorating US-India ties.

India is riding three boats at a time.

The German statement and the US Ambassador Donald Blome’s unexpected trip to AJK gives an inkling to the West’s anger and disappointment over Delhi’s position on the Ukraine conflict primarily.

However, veteran Pakistani diplomats like Maliha Lodhi and Abdul Basit opine that Pakistan must not get elated by the fresh developments.

Perhaps they want to signal that in diplomacy, such events and actions keep on changing. That’s all.

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