27 Sep 2021  |   05:08am IST

India’s diplomatic skills corner non-democratic countries at UN

India’s diplomatic skills corner  non-democratic countries at UN

The recently concluded United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has catapulted India to a different level. The diplomatic skills, body language of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his team and a strong message by the young First Secretary of India to United Nations Sneha Dubey has brought Pakistan closer to facing sanctions as the latter's role in Afghanistan after the exit of the United States of America (USA) has been exposed worldwide.

In fact, PM Modi also attended the Quad Summit at the backdrop of his main agenda to address the UNGA with the leaders of United States, Japan and Australia. The Quad Summit pledged to work together for ensuring peace and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific and the world. President Biden also stated that the four democracies have come together to take on common challenges ranging from Covid-19 to climate. He also said that the group has democratic partners who share world views and have a common vision for the future. Hence, ‘democracy’ was the catch word in this US visit of Prime Minister Modi.

In his address to the UNGA, the Indian Prime Minister cautioned the countries that have “regressive thinking” that are using terrorism as a “political tool”. He called for efforts to ensure no country takes advantage of the “delicate situation” in Afghanistan for “its own selfish interests”. He, however, did not name any country, but he was clearly pointing at Pakistan. He underscored the strength of India’s democracy as he talked about his own rise from a tea seller at a railway station to that as prime minister.

Interestingly, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan taking refuge of COVID-19, did not physically attend the UNGA. Imran Khan's UNGA video address was mostly a rant. He tried to paint Pakistan as a victim of terror, promoted the Taliban as a force for good and spewed venom against India. India and Pakistan have clashed at the United Nations as Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan accused the rival of a “reign of terror” on Muslims, drawing a stern rebuke. Though Jammu and Kashmir did figure at the United Nations this time too as in the past several decades, the force behind raising this issue was missing. However, this time a new trend has emerged and efforts were being made to fuel Khalistan as ISI officials were spotted at the protests sites made by Khalistanis outside Prime Minister Modi’s meeting venues during his recent US visit.

At the UNGA Imran Khan mentioned that ‘Mujahideen’ were considered ‘heroes’ and that is the reason why former US President Ronald Reagan had hosted them in the White House. This statement was not taken by several including some prominent Pakistanis in ‘good taste’. Pakistani journalists Gharidah Farooqi in her tweet mentioned that it was an “international embarrassment” as the Pakistan Prime Minister was quoting from ‘fake news’.

All these faux pas in international diplomacy, is leading Pakistan to face sanctions. Experts in global politics have even gone further to say that “Pakistan is very close to being sanctioned.” Sanctions have been extensively used by countries as a foreign policy tool, and by the United Nations (UN). It is a means of economic warfare with the objective of coercing change in behaviour of a country, imposing restrictions or showing power.

India as a country has been sanctioned at least twice by the USA and few other countries after its nuclear tests. However, USA has rarely imposed sanctions on another country. A recent example of India imposing sanctions was when it withdrew the most favoured nation (MFN) status granted to Pakistan after the Pulwama attack in Kashmir. Pakistan too has imposed restrictions on India, such as closing down its airspace, including for Indian VVIPs, a ban on trade with India and discontinuing postal mail, a rare measure that has commercial implications.

In these equations, China cannot be ruled out as far as the tension building in South Asia is concerned. As China will not play second fiddle to the United States, India will not play second fiddle to China. China has risen, India is still rising. At present, China’s economy and defence budget is several times higher than India. Expert studies say that by 2025, India is projected to displace China as the world’s most populous country with a growing economy.

India sees China as an expansionist and hegemonic power which is a ‘friend’ of Pakistan. At this moment India does have an upper hand in diplomacy but the backdoor channels in Pakistan and China must be buzzing with activity to salvage the embarrassment faced at the United Nations.


IDhar UDHAR

Idhar Udhar