Tag: Pakistan

It’s time to act and fix ailing UNSC: India’s envoy in UN

- by India Writes Network

Today, we stand on the cusp of selecting the 9th Secretary General of the UN. The last report of Secretary General Ban ki-Moon contained in A/71/1 on the Work of the Organization is, therefore, an appropriate inflection point to examine what are the main challenges that face us and what are the means and mechanisms to mend. These are not simple issues nor are they small in number. However, due to paucity of time I will focus on just three examples relating to peace and security that are emblematic of the problems we face.

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India to Pakistan: Abandon your futile quest, J& K is and will remain India’s integral part

- by India Writes Network

Abandon your futile quest and stop abusing international fora for Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India. This is India’s strongly-worded message to Pakistan which continues to rake up the Kashmir issue to divert the world’s attention from its relentless pursuit of terrorism as an instrument of state policy.

“Our response to Pakistan is consistent. Abandon your futile quest. Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India and will remain so,” India’s Permanent Representative to UN Syed Akbaruddin said during a General Assembly debate on ‘Report of the Secretary General on the Work of the Organisation’ at the 71st session of the UNGA.

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Hamid Ansari in Mali: Amid Pakistan strikes, India quietly bolsters anti-terror front with Africa

- by India Writes Network

Amid headline-hogging strikes by India to hit back at Pakistan for the Uri massacre, thousands of miles away Vice-President Hamid Ansari engaged in quiet and effective diplomacy to forge a united front against terror with two key West African nations, including Nigeria and Mali. In Bamako, the capital of Mali, the vice-president outlined a template of mutual empowerment with the African continent by dovetailing India’s Africa policy with the vision of African resurgence crystallized in Agenda 2063.

In the first high-level visit from India to Mali, Mr Ansari pledged India’s unremitting support for the reconstruction and flowering of this nation of poets, scholars and musicians and underscored that New Delhi will work closely with Bamako to restore the glory of Timbuktu, which has been savagely assaulted and scarred by al-Qaeda in Maghreb militants.

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Isolate Pakistan: In Nigeria, Ansari targets terror-sponsoring states

- by Manish Chand

In a veiled reference to Pakistan-sponsored terrorism against India, Vice-President Hamid Ansari has made a compelling case for bolstering counter-terror cooperation with Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, and underlined that “the use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy should be unequivocally condemned.”

Invoking the common suffering experienced by Nigeria and India from the scourge of terrorism, Mr Ansari exhorted the world community not to make any distinction between good and bad terrorists and speak in one voice against this trans-national menace.

“Your country, like mine, has suffered the horrors of this scourge of terrorism. Terrorism today has global reach, no city remains safe,” Mr Ansari said at the National Defence College in the Nigerian capital Abuja on September 28. “Use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy is to be unequivocally condemned. There can be no distinction between good and bad terrorists.” Delinking terrorism with religion, the vice-president argued that a terrorist can’t have any religion or be afforded political sanctuary.

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India snubs Pakistan, says no to SAARC summit

- by India Writes Network

In a major step aimed at isolating Pakistan in the region, India has announced that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not participate in the SAARC summit in Islamabad due to cross-border terrorist attacks, an obvious reference to the Uri assault by Pakistani terrorists.

In a diplomatic retaliation for Pakistan’s diversionary posturing on the Kashmir issue, India has underlined that the current environment is not conducive to then holding of the SAARC summit.

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Uri attack: There are no military options that will give India the outcome it wants

- by India Writes Network

India does not have too many good options in responding to the militant raid that killed 17 Indian army personnel, perhaps the largest number ever for a single day of the Kashmiri insurgency that began in 1990.

Sure, you can break down the responses and see what works. First the military — an army raid across the Line of Control, an army incursion across the international border with Pakistan, a naval blockade of Karachi, an air strike on the Jaish headquarters in Bahawalpur, an air strike on camps in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Second, the diplomatic — a UN Security Council condemnation and sanctions, sanctions by friendly countries like the US, Japan, UK and Germany, and a few Gulf countries. All of the above have been thought about and have not got us anywhere.

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Terror attack in Uri: Global outrage over killing of Indian soldiers in Kashmir

- by India Writes Network

The horrific terror attack at an Indian Army base in Jammu and Kashmir that killed 17 Indian soldiers has elicited strong global condemnation, with the US, UK and Canada, among others, coming out in solidarity with India.

Condemning the attack, the US underlined its ongoing cooperation with India to combat terrorism. “The United States strongly condemns the terrorist attack on an Indian army base in Kashmir…We extend our condolences to the victims and their families. The United States is committed to our strong partnership with the Indian government to combat terrorism,” said US state department spokesman John Kirby.
The pre-dawn raid on an Indian Army base at Uri in north Kashmir on September 18 by suspected Pakistani militants killed 17 Indian soldiers, triggering national outrage and calls for swift punitive action against perpetrators and their sponsors based in Pakistan. Indian security agencies blamed the attack on Jaish-e-Moahamed, also the prime suspect behind the attack on the Pathankot air base early this year.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has vowed to punish those behind the “cowardly” and “despicable” attack.

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Behind PM Modi’s Balochistan gamble: Shift in India’s foreign policy?

- by India Writes Network

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of Indian independence, has drawn wide attention for his comments on Pakistan although he made no direct reference to the country. He drew a contrast between India’s belief in human values, as illustrated in the widespread grief in India at the massacre of innocent schoolchildren in Peshawar, with the “other side which glorifies terrorists”. He invited India’s neighbours to jointly fight poverty and not “destroy ourselves” by fighting our own people.
As Pakistan is accusing India of fomenting trouble in Baluchistan and POK, it is quite conceivable that it would apply its full template for raising military tension on the border and intensify cross-border terrorism in J&K; we hardly need reminding ourselves that this template, backed by nuclear weapons capability, constitutes Pakistan’s grand strategy towards India. One can envisage greater Pakistan-inspired terrorism in other parts of the country. Pakistan may even aim to escalate the border tension, involving the two armed forces, with the objective of drawing in great power intercession as it had tried during the Kargil conflict. The new Indian strategy assumes a certain risk but aims to apply calibrated pressure on Pakistani policy-makers and making them realise the adverse strategic situation they are in.

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