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| Third Party Mediation: Pakistani blank cheque to China intriguing | | |
RUSTAM
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Feb 25: Defence Minister A K Antony’s has done exceedingly well to reject the Pakistani demand for third party mediation in India-Pakistan disputes. He made this declaration on Tuesday while speaking at the felicitation ceremony for scientists of the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) during the 34th Directors’ Conference. His stand was: “We are not in favour of involvement of any third country in talks between India and Pakistan…India’s basic policy is that we don’t want any interference from any country in our bilateral relations with Pakistan”.
It is important to note that the Defence Minister took this clear stand when he was told that Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who was in Beijing, had called for the Chinese mediation in the India-Pakistan relations. Qureshi had given a blank cheque to China in this regard. But it was not a new diplomatic move of the canny Pakistan. This has been the Pakistani stand for the past many years.
Why only China? Islamabad has been consistently seeking third party intervention in the India-Pakistan relations. It has been urging the United States to intervene so that Kashmir issue and issues relating to water disputes between the two countries are resolved. It has been consistently asking the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) to intervene on its behalf and on behalf of the Kashmiri separatists. The fact of the matter is that Islamabad has not been leaving any stone unturned in order to accomplish its evil designs on J&K and the Indus waters and that it has never respected diplomatic nuances. It has all along believed in the Chinese dictum: “Offence is the best defence”.
The Pakistani suggestion that Beijing should play the role of a mediator between India and Pakistan is as intriguing as it is ill-motivated. It is intriguing because China, like Pakistan, is also an aggressor. China invaded the Indian J&K in 1962 and annexed thousands and thousands sq miles of the Indian Territory, which is still under its illegal occupation. Besides, Beijing continues to organize incursions at regular intervals not only in Ladakh, but also in Arunachal Pradesh. The motive as the same – Ladakh and Arunachal, like Tibet, must become part of the Imperialist China.
The Pakistani blank cheque to China is ill-motivated and intriguing in another sense as well. It is no more a secret that the foreign policy of these two countries aims at grabbing as much Indian Territory as possible and weakening India to the extent possible. But more than that, it is also not a secret that both these countries have been working in unison, particularly since 1963, when Islamabad ceded illegally approximately 5000 sq miles of the Indian Territory to China for the purpose of constructing Karakoram Highway connecting both the countries and playing nefarious games there in that strategic area to jeopardize the Indian territorial and sovereign legitimate interests.
As for Pakistan, nearly 32,000 sq miles of Indian Territory continues to remain under its illegal occupation and it includes areas like Gilgit, Baltistan, Chitral, Hunza, Bunji, Ishkoman, Muzaffarabad and adjoining areas, which Pakistan terms as “Azad Kashmir”.
The Pakistani suggestion regarding third party mediation by China simply suggests that Islamabad wants to consolidate further its ties with China so that they create a two-front situation that forces New Delhi to give up its legal claim over J&K and hands over the strategic northern frontier to both Pakistan and China. Northern frontiers are the lifeline of India. The weakening of Indian hold over these northern frontiers would simply mean a grave threat to the very existence of India as a country.
It is appreciable that the Indian Defence Minister has pooh-poohed the Pakistani suggestion. But this is not enough. What is required to consolidate the Indian hold over the northern frontiers is to implement the February 1994 Parliamentary unanimous resolution that clearly asks the Indian Government to take back from Pakistan the Indian territories under the control of Pakistan. Indian insistence on the implementation of the 1994 resolution would put Pakistan on the mat and that is the need of the time. |
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