Kashmir continues to make headlines. A day after India ruled out any “role'' or “scope'' of third party mediation on Kashmir, reacting to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' offer to help, British MP Debbie Abrahams—and chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Kashmir—alleged that she was denied entry to India for her critical stance against India's move to remove Article 370.
While the ministry of external affairs is yet to respond to the allegations made by Abraham, one thing is clear, that Kashmir's shadow will loom large over international engagements. In the past two days, the K-factor has found mention across the border and in the US. Foreign minister S. Jaishankar has set Twitter ablaze when he snubbed Senator Lindsey Graham, a close confidant of US President Donald Trump, who at the Munich Conference chose to raise Kashmir at a panel discussion, saying the best to sell democracy would be to settle the issue democratically. Jaishankar, responded by saying: “Do not worry Senator. One democracy will settle it and you know which one." Graham is one of the latest US Senators who has chosen to bring up Kashmir and concerns—only to be rebuked by India.
On his last trip to the US, Jaishankar had cancelled a US Congressional delegation meeting as he refused to meet US Congresswoman Jayapal who had been openly critical of India's clampdown in Kashmir. The decision had sparked off controversy and had a mixed reaction from diplomats. And the retort to Grahman, who has written a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo with three other Senators and has expressed his concern over Kashmir—and the continued lockdown—as well as India's other bugbear, the CAA, was in keeping with India's new found aggression to dealing with any questions about Kashmir. Any concerns on the Citizenship Amendment Act will also be dealt with in the same muscular manner.
The Jaishankar viral video apart, Kashmir came up at the visit of Turkish President Recep Erdogan to Pakistan. Erdogan, addressing Pakistani Parliamentarians, promised to back Pakistan in FAFT as well as referred to Kashmiris as “brothers and sisters suffering because of India's action”. Reacting sharply, India called upon the Turkish leadership “not to interfere'' in India's internal affairs. And to make India's displeasure very clear, New Delhi issued a “strong demarche'' to the Turkish government.
“These remarks reflect neither an understanding of history, nor the conduct of diplomacy,'' said Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar. “They distort events of the past to a narrow minded view of the present.”
Over the past few months, India has tried to rejig its strategy to deal with the mounting international concern over Kashmir. There is, of course, strong responses from the government in keeping with India's nationalist image. But diplomats across the world are also working behind the scenes to ensure that uncomfortable questions are not asked. The Indian position has been explained to stakeholders in capital cities across the world. Only last month, a draft resolution that was to come up for vote in the European Parliament to criticise India over Citizen Amendment Act and the lockdown on Kashmir, was postponed at the 11th hour. The resolution brought by six groups representing 626 of 751 members of the European Parliament has been postponed till March. The reason? To make sure that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit is not hampered in any way. The outreach outside India apart, India has also tried to manage the situation by taking diplomats to the Valley. After the disastrous attempt to woo the far right European Parliament MPs—who were taken on a private trip by a lobby—India has taken other diplomats. US Ambassador Kevin Juster was part of the first trip. The second saw envoys from France, Germany and Afghanistan. The pressure, will, however, continue.
