The US-China summit level joint pledge of support for the improvement and growth of relations between India and Pakistan is a significant first step towards possibility of peace in the region; that is if you are a Pakistani. For, Indians yesterday’s joint statement was affront to their national pride; how dare China tells them to befriend Pakistan.
As the world keenly watched leaders of the two world powers Obama and Hu appear in the Great Hall of the People overlooking Tiananmen Square people saw what they wanted to see. For Pakistani analysts it was a sign of substantial progress in China-U.S. relations over the past 30 years, but to others this summit was “increasingly important to both countries, but also curiously bereft of warmth or intimacy.” For American observers, Obama walked away without any concrete agreements on currency, environment or human rights issues, but for my Chinese friends at the United Nations, it was the dawn of a ‘new era’ of global cooperation.
For South Asian analysts the mention of India and Pakistan in the joint statement was significant. China and the United States voiced support for peace and stability in South Asia. According to the joint statement both countries support the efforts of Afghanistan and Pakistan to fight terrorism, maintain domestic stability, and achieve sustainable economic and social development. Their statement on Afghanistan and Pakistan was expected.
Surprising, however, was the joint pledge to support “improvement and growth of relations between India and Pakistan.”
The joint statement said: “the two sides are ready to strengthen communication, dialogue and cooperation on issues related to South Asia and work together to promote peace, stability and development in that region.”
This statement has dual implications; first, Afghanistan-Pakistan security concerns are viewed through the larger regional perspective which includes India, and secondly, India’s perceived regional role. Although India has restrained itself and there were no immediate official responses (at the time of writing of this article), but Indian analysts have begun taking note.
I juts saw Natwar Singh, former External Affairs Minister telling an Indian TV:“ Mr. Obama and Mr. Hu Jintao are confusing hope with facts. India has consistently extended its hand of friendship to Pakistan but the response has been wholly unsatisfactory. The government and the people of India want warm and cordial relations with Pakistan, so do the people of Pakistan. Regrettably the establishment of Pakistan is not in favor.”
Salman Haider, former Foreign Secretary, was upset that such a ‘pledge’ was made because the U.S. knows it would be regarded as some sort of provocation to India. He told the Indian TV: “the statement should not give a message to Pakistan that it could start attempting the involvement of others in our bilateral affairs. We have repeatedly told our friends not to interfere. This is not a good formulation and is not at all helpful.”
Indians have become accustomed to the American administration talk about South Asian countries, but ‘red flags’ go up when China mentions Indo-Pak ties. India has a baggage of confrontational diplomacy with China- history of war, border conflicts, water rights issues, and lately economic and military competition. India has amplified its rhetoric against China, and Beijing has been frank in expressing concern over India’s planned Agni-V ballistic missile test. From Arunachal Pradesh to Azad Kashmir, there have been several key instances recently in which Indian foreign policymakers seem to have been unnerved, even alleging China is constructing a dam on the Brahmaputra.
Indian External Affairs Minster and Foreign Secretary were unhappy about this US-China joint statement because China has a long history of cooperation with Pakistan; relations that reach back through six decades of trust.
Although it was a good surprise for Pakistan but it did not have all the elements to make it substantial. The Obama-Hu joint statement did not invoke the Kashmir issue. Meeting soon after the Pokhran tests in 1998, the then U.S. President Bill Clinton and the former Chinese President, Jiang Zemin, had issued a statement that was more specific on Kashmir. The statement expressed the “commitment” of the U.S. and China to help peacefully resolve “the difficult and long-standing differences between them including the pending issue of Kashmir.”
I agree with the White House spokesman Robert Gibbs that one should not expect “that the waters would part and everything would change over our almost 2 1/2-day trip to China,’’ but I am hoping that the sObama administration start looking at India as a key variable for security and stability of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Resolution of the India-Pakistan conflict, I am convinced, will bring peace and prosperity to the region.
Water is linked to the crises of climate change, energy and food supplies, and in our case, a territorial dispute. Unless Kashmir’s link with water is addressed and resolved, these other crises may intensify leading to further political insecurity and conflict at various levels.
It is abundantly clear to most educated Pakistanis that the Kashmir dispute cannot be resolved until every Pakistani citizen is assured access to water – today, tomorrow and for times to come. I am hoping that China and the US will have the courage to stop India from building dams that will deprive Pakistani farmers of vital water supplies.
Joint statements without concrete follow-ups serve no purpose. I am hoping China and the US will play an active role in resolving the critical issue of the Tulbul Navigation project on Wular Lake in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir.
Ibrahim Sajid Malick is a Pakistani-American writer, technologist, and social entrepreneur. He has been writing on Pakistani society and politics since 1986. He has held several media, communications, and technology positions for organizations large and small. Mr. Malick graduated from New School for Social Research with a master’s degree in anthropology. He holds several technology and management certifications. He works for a leading technology firm and blogs at www.ibrahimsajidmalick.com
Dream on you Pakis… China is not coming to your help. You are a terrorist nation and will remain that way.
After all is said in US-China joint statements, any peace and stability in India-Pakistan relations will continue to be an illusion until the two countries realise that it is necessary for their own existence. An article in Indian Express analysed that further deterioration in Pakistan could mean devastation for India.
@Malik Rashid
BS – pakistan can fall off the face of this earth and India will not be harmed. so keep dreaming and trying to scare us. you are like a baby who says if you don’t get me candies i will poop in the shop and that will be bad for my parents and the shopkeeper. look at the lack of logic of your statement. stupid paki..
Respectable Naveen
Shekhar Gupta is no stupid Paki. He wrote:
Our faff-Pak policy
Tags : shekhargupta, column
Posted: Saturday , Nov 14, 2009 at 0225 hrs Related ArticlesMost Read
My alma mater of 12 wonderful years in journalism, India Today, just came out with a provocative idea on its cover: Can Pakistan Be Saved? I, however, dare to suggest that in India we need to ask that question a little differently: Should Pakistan Be Saved? Then you can proceed with follow-on questions and corollaries: is it good or bad for us if Pakistan is saved/ not saved? And if we conclude that it is good for us, in fact of vital interest to us, that Pakistan is not only “saved” but emerges a stronger, stabler, moderate, modernising and democratic nation through its current crisis, then we need to think what we can do to help that process.
For too long now both India and Pakistan have had their judgment clouded by contemptuous distrust of each other. The Pakistanis refer to us as their enemies rather more freely. We are a bit more cautious, hypocritical, and non-Punjabi about the use of such direct language. But let’s be honest. Can we deny the fact that every new terror attack on the Pakistani establishment, every development that marks a further decline in the authority of its government is greeted with an utterly unconcealed sense of delight? This is not just the mood of the mobs here. Even the “intelligentsia”, the TV talking heads, opinion page columnists, government spokespersons, all have the same smug air of “I-told-you-so” and “so-what-else-did-they-expect” satisfaction. And they ask the same patronising question: hell, can Pakistan be saved?
One has to be brave, even foolhardy, to go against a flood of such national unanimity. But you have to now debate if it will be good for India that Pakistan continues to slide. Or, do we have the wherewithal to deal with whatever is left behind, if Pakistan does not survive? Can we deal with five anarchic, angry “stans” instead of one next door to us, with no central authority to share a hotline with? Would we prefer to live with a nuclear-armed anarchy that listens to nobody? What use will coercive diplomacy be then? Who will we bomb?
It is time therefore to stop jubilating at the unfolding tragedy in Pakistan. India has to think of becoming a part of the solution. And that solution lies in not merely saving Pakistan — Pakistan will survive. It has evolved a strong nationalism that does bind its people even if that does not reflect in its current internal dissensions. It is slowly building a democratic system, howsoever imperfect. But it has a very robust media and a functional higher judiciary. Also, in its army, it has at least one national institution that provides stability and continuity. The question for us is, what kind of Pakistan do we want to see emerging from this bloodshed? What if fundamentalists of some kind, either religious or military or a combination of both, were to take control of Islamabad? The Americans will always have the option of cutting their losses and leaving. They have a long history of doing that successfully, from Vietnam to Iraq and maybe Afghanistan next. What will be our Plan-B then?
Read full article. Please follow the link
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/our-faffpak-policy/541281/2
India took angry exception to the paragraph. The paragraph committed the two countries to working to “promote peace, stability and development” in south Asia. “The Government of India,” declared its Foreign Ministry, “is committed to resolving all outstanding issues with Pakistan through a peaceful bilateral dialogue in accordance with the Simla Agreement. A third country role cannot be envisaged.”
” For, Indians yesterday’s joint statement was affront to their national pride; how dare China tells them to befriend Pakistan.” You know Indians very well living with them in US tells you exactly where you stand.
Chinese are not stupid they know it too what India is, they “Chinese” are just buying some time before the shove India and US both aside. China just did a great job in provoking Indians.
THANKS CHINA
India = Suppression
Suppression = India
Now India is funding terrorism as well.
India Funding terrorism?… look who is talking too?
Pakistan itself has accepted time and again that terrorism (specifically Islamic terrorism shaking the foundations of Pakistan itself) took birth in North west Frontier province of PAKISTAN, so as per the record, it is PAKISTAN which supported terrorism to get Kashmir from India, but now that Pakistani govt. is supporting US in its so-called war against terror, the Dog has turned on its Master.
And China doing the right thing by reducing suppression by India?… CHINA of all countries. The country which has been pseudonym of suppression since long and even today is completely and totally against any kind of democratic franchise in the state of Tibet.
I think its high time Mr. Ali Bajwa got his facts in the right, just playing with words is not enough.
Yes, a dialogue for peace between the two countries is necessary, but that has to be between us, Pakistan and Indians. US or China or any other nation are not to have any say in this.
@Ali Bajwa:
Now I know why India-Pakistan talks fail….because they just love to fight….at least looking at response its does seem so!
When some other country asks some rivals/enemies to be friends…what’s wrong in that? Opinions and suggestions mingled with politics, for selfish purposes have made this world a bad place to live in!
Indian’s want to be on top and will curse/blame Pakistan, China and the USA if something goes wrong (most border issues and terrorism). Pakistan is favorite issue when it comes to terrorism, and its even more so after 26/11 and Kargil.
In India, no one trust Chinese and are often reminded the saying “India-China Bhai Bhai”, so when you are hit with hot poker on your face, who will trust China again with their friendship and advice?
While, Pakistanis just love to flaunt about Islam and conquer and convert and force whole world into Islam! Well, if we read some replies on this blog and many others, will get many instances where some Idiots commenting on Islam religion.
Well I better trust Islam to Islam following manics which not only preach (I’m referring to Islam manics) to hate other religion, but also wants to conquer and convert whole world into Islam! Well, I never saw any incidence where Holy Kuran preaches you to hate other religion or conquer and kill to prove that Islam is best! Its more like Hitler ideology to conquer and prove that we are the best!
If India-Pakistan want to make their talks successful, they have to stop hating each other and then deliver on the commitments they have made. I hope that some day we will be peaceful countries and no fear for terrorism!
A Chinese NGO has invited Kashmiri leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq to present his perspective about the Kashmir dispute in Beijing. This is the first time China has shown interest in hosting a Kashmiri separatist leader and willingness to listen his point of view about the issue.
Mir Waiz said today: “I have been invited by a Chinese NGO to Beijing. I will go there after the holy festival of Eid-ul-Azha, which falls on November 28. I have to speak about the Kashmiri perspective of the Kashmir issue. I will tell them that Kashmir is a political issue and not a territorial or religious dispute.”
Mir Waiz also Welcomed the recent joint statement of US and Chinese presidents in Beijing: “Although China is not a party to the Kashmir dispute but it definitely has a stake in the region’s peace as it is an emerging power and Pakistan has given some part of Kashmir to the country as well.”
China occupied Aksa Chin from India after 1962 war and was gifted 5000 sq kms territory of Kashmir by Pakistan in 1963.
Since the eruption of turmoil in Kashmir in 1989, China has been silent and never gave any space to the separatist voices. One of the senior separatist leaders in 1990s had sought appointment with Chinese envoy in Indian capital to discuss the Kashmir issue but was politely refused permission by the embassy officials.
The China government is already providing special travel documents – stapled visa – to Kashmiri citizens intending to travel to the country. The visa, however, is not being entertained by India and as a result scores of Kashmiris were not allowed to visit China by Indian authorities.
The China’s Kashmir interest will further strain the relations between India and China. India has accused the Chinese army and Air force of incursions and air violations in Indian territory. Chinese government recently opposed the visit of Buddhist spiritual leader Dalai Lama into India state of Arunachal Pradesh. China claims Arunachal Pradesh as its territory and accuses India of ‘illegally occupying it’.
China’s interest in Kashmir is not good news for India, which has already expressed its reservations over America’s moves to seek Chinese help in stabilizing South Asia. “India will now found itself cornered. Pakistan has always been talking about resolution of Kashmir dispute and has been linking Kashmir resolution with the success against ‘war on terror’. The US administration too is trying to encourage India and Pakistan to resume the dialogue process and resolve the vexed Kashmir issue and now with China’s entry things will get complicated for India,” said a Kashmir analyst.
China’s President Hu Jintao told media after this meeting: “I underlined to President Obama that given our differences in national conditions, it is only normal that our two sides may disagree on some issues. What is important is to respect and accommodate each other’s core interests and major concerns.”
Mr Jintao nailed it! “accommodate each other’s core interests.” He should have this type relations with India as well.
i think the inquiry report published today about babri mosque is enough. Pakistan should again engage indian army in kashmir using insurgents. The moment we stop supporting kashmiri insurgents, RAW started working on balochistan and FATA of paksitan. So better to keep them engage in kashmir. Dont pay head to their cries, the only language india understands is military. A country exporting and multiplying AIDS will soon be put on quarantine in next 20 years. so wait and see.