Round The
World
New Delhi, 4 October 2019
‘K’ Word In UNGA
DIPLOMACY GOES INTO OVERDRIVE
By Dr D.K.Giri
(Prof. International Politics, JMI)
In the mega event ‘Howdy
Modi’ at Houston, Donald Trump and Narendra Modi vowed in chorus to fight
Islamic terrorism, although it was prefixed by ‘radical’. The posturing
somewhat reminded us American political scientist, Samuel Huntington’s prediction
made in 1996, in his controversial book, The
Clash of Civilization and the Remaking of World Order, where he hypothesised
that in future, peoples cultural and religious identities will be the primary
source of conflict. That may not yet be entirely true, but two sets of
reactions by countries led by Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Malaysia -- all Islamic, sadly
come close to the prediction.
One, three Islamic
countries Pakistan, Turkey and Malaysia agreed to start a television channel to
fight Islamophobia, and second, Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Niger of the
Contact Group of Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) called upon India to
restore the status quo in Kashmir.
The idea of an
international TV channel seems to be a direct reaction to Trump’s declaration,
in Modi’s company, of war against Islamic terrorism. Leaders of some Islamic
countries treat it as an affront to their religion, and according to Pakistan
Prime Minister Imran Khan, the channel will correct misperceptions about Islam,
and produce a series of films on Muslims to educate and inform the world on
richness of Islamic history.
The second reaction
was by some OIC members joined by India-friendly Saudi Arabia. The statement
issued by the group was critical of New Delhi’s abrogation of Article 370 from
Kashmir that had conferred special provisions for Kashmiris. It called upon
India to, “rescind its unilateral illegal actions and reiterate its commitment
to abide by the relevant UN Security Council Resolutions, provide assurances
that it will not change the occupied territory’s demographic composition and
not allow non-Kashmiris to acquire property or residency in the Valley, halt
its human rights violations, repeal its draconian emergency laws, and withdraw
its heavy military presence”.
The third reaction
was by Erdogan, President of Turkey, and Mahathir, octogenarian Prime Minister
of Malaysia who raised Kashmir issue in their respective addresses to the UNGA.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan stridently remarked, “Kashmir remains besieged and eight
million people are stuck in Kashmir despite resolutions adopted by the UN Security
Council”. He stressed the only solution for “Kashmiri people” was through
dialogue. Mohamad Mahathir said, “There may be reasons for this action but it
is still wrong. The problem must be solved by peaceful means. India should work
with Pakistan to resolve this problem. Ignoring the UN would lead to other
forms of disregard for the UN and the Rule of Law”. In fact, he went on to say,
“Kashmir was invaded and occupied”.
Both these leaders
may have different drivers for such statements at UNGA in support of Pakistan.
But the running thread is Islam to a great extent. Diplomatic observers suggest
that Erdogan has reversed the modernising process in Turkey initiated by
Mustafa Kamal Pasha in whose name New Delhi has a road, and has displayed
neo-Ottoman ambitions. He wants to be the new “Caliph of Muslims”. Also, New
Delhi has not seriously engaged Turkey in dialogue and diplomacy. Modi, an avid
traveller, has not visited Turkey so far.
It is difficult to
decode Mahathir’s belligerence on Kashmir. One could make a fair guess that his
present coalition government is dependent on support from a Party run by people
of Chinese origin. One of the junior ministers sounded very concerned about
Kashmir as he told me, “Kashmir is a very serious issue, and China may weigh
in”. I retorted that Beijing has already thrown its weight behind Pakistan on
Kashmir. The Malaysian politics is complex, the present ruling collation members
have come to power after 71 years in Opposition. They will like to retain it
somehow.
It was only China
before that supported Pakistan. Now we have Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and Turkey,
three major countries rallying behind ‘beleaguered’ Pakistan. One need not
fathom deep to find the Islamic angle to it. As many Indians, mainly the BJP
supporters, celebrated the gala event in Houston, Modi’s tango with maverick
Trump might have left a bad taste in the mouth for many. Should we have
concurred in communalising terrorism? It may be good for domestic audience for
electoral purposes, but will it wash internationally with major Islamic
countries like Saudi Arabia and Turkey. The answer is no, as all Muslims are
not terrorist, and all non-Muslims are not peace-loving.
At any rate, Indian
diplomacy has gone into overdrive to contain the damage. The PMO has rushed the
go-to man Ajit Doval to Saudi Arabia to assuage their hurt feelings, if any,
and retrieve them to our side. As his wont, Modi has retaliated Erdogan and
Turkey by courting all his main rivals. Soon after Erdogan’s statement in UNGA,
Modi met the heads of States of Ankara’s rivals – Greece, Cyprus and Armenia, on
the sidelines of the meeting.
He also met Greece Prime
Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, whose country is locked in a bitter dispute with
Turkey over who should control islets in Aegean Sea. Greece also has been
supporting Cyprus against Turkey and it has been blocking Turkey’s membership
of the European Union.
Then Modi met Cyprus President
Nicos Anastasiades and his Armenian counterpart Nikol Pashinyan -- the countries
which have issues to settle with Turkey. These meetings with Turkey’s two
neighbours that have had long-standing issues with the country may be
interpreted as a hint on how India may respond if Turkey continues with its
pro-Pakistan stance.
Let us recall, Armenia
maintains that the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Armenians within the
Ottoman Empire from 1915 occurred as a result of exile policies implemented by
the Committee of Union and Progress government of the time, and thus constitute
genocide. Turkey accepts that massacres took place, but vehemently denies
allegations of genocide.
Following a coup
backed by Greece, Turkey invaded the northern front of the Mediterranean island
of Cyprus in 1974, and has been the main backer of the breakaway Turkish Republic
of Northern Cyprus, which is only formally recognised by Turkey. Efforts to
resolve the issue with involvement by UN and EU have failed in the past. During
his meeting with Anastasiades, Modi reiterated, “India's consistent support for
the independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and unity of Republic of
Cyprus", a position which is certain to infuriate Erdogan.
Malaysia’s reaction
is not known yet, except BJP’s social media asking people to boycott Malaysian
goods etc and disparaging the oldest head of State in the world. BJP supporters
say that Mahathir at this age of 94 seems to have lost his mental faculties and
so on. These are emotional reactions. One should probe deeper why Malaysia went
the Pakistan way.
To conclude, New
Delhi needs to engage more with countries like Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and
Turkey. All the three have achieved a degree of decent development and are
resource-rich. One need not alienate these by alluding needlessly and
mindlessly to Islam. The ruling party’s domestic political imperatives need not
be met at the cost of our national interest. BJP accused the Congress of
appeasing Muslims in relation to Israel; it is doing the same by anti-Islamic
rhetoric for domestic consumption. One just hopes it is being inadvertently
done.---INFA
(Copyright, India
News & Feature Alliance)
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