Diplomacy on MBS' visit

Kashmir Times. Dated: 2/21/2019 11:09:11 PM

Saudi Arabia refusing to name Jaish as a terror entity in the joint statement is an example of failed diplomacy

The joint statement issued at the end of the two-day visit of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to India does reflect the failure of positive diplomacy between the two countries. The Indian government appears to have failed miserably in incorporating the name of Pakistan and Jaish-e-Mohammed for condemnation of the Fidayeen attack on February 14 in Pulwama, where at least 40 CRPF men were killed and several others injured. In fact, the joint statement did not mention even Pakistan as a party to the Fidayeen attack despite the hype created over the issue by the BJP-government in New Delhi in the media. But overall, MBS' visit to India, as the Crown Prince is popularly referred to, at this moment was an opportunity that India could use well in the backdrop of its relations with Saudi Arabia. India's relations with Saudi Arabia are historic and wide-ranging, from trade and investment to defense and security. In 2010, the two countries enhanced their ties to the level of a "strategic partnership" in the region where both of them play an important role. The Islamic kingdom is India's fourth largest trading partner. Bilateral trade is in the region of $28 billion. India imports 19 percent of its oil requirement from Saudi Arabia. As the country with the third largest Muslim population, there is a religious-cultural aspect to India's ties with the custodian of Islam's holiest sites. The Indian workforce in Saudi Arabia is close to 3 million and perhaps the largest. Prince Salman's visit to India was also seen as another chance that seeks to build on this already strong relationship. But what India needs to press home to the Saudi Prince is that his praise for Pakistan's efforts against terrorism on his visit to Islamabad earlier was tone deaf. It is no secret that Islamist extremism was exported and funded from Saudi Arabia. The JeM, a Sunni Deobandi group, has drawn both money and ideology from Al-Qaeda and Taliban. If MBS is truly the reformer, he claims to be, India must hold him to his agenda. The entire region is a powder keg because of the armed groups that operate from Pakistan, launching attacks in Iran one day and India the next. And with the ISI created Taliban hoping to regain power in Afghanistan in a negotiated deal with the US, the situation in South Asia is extremely fragile. If MBS wants India-Pakistan tensions to de-escalate, as he declared in Islamabad, he must start by advising his Pakistani hosts to take the steps the world has been asking them to.
In the backdrop of its relationship with Pakistan, it is not expected that Saudi Crown Prince will issue any statement in favour of India and against the neighbouring country. The joint statement was limited to calling on "all countries to renounce the use of terrorism as an instrument of state policy" andnothing else could have been expected. Moreover, the joint statement only referred to the fact that two sides stressed upon the importance of regional stability and good neighbouring relations. Though the MBS appreciated the efforts made by prime minister Narendra Modi to have friendly relations with Pakistan, yet it underlined the need for creation of conditions necessary for resumption of the Comprehensive Dialogue Process between India and Pakistan. The diplomats and policy planners need to read between the lines on the joint statement that ultimately, it is dialogue process that is going to build the ground for sustainable negotiations to resolve all the outstanding issues including Kashmir between India and Pakistan. There is no denying the fact that menace of extremism and terrorism threatens all nations and societies and the attempts to link this universal phenomenon to any particular race, religion or culture has to be rejected. But this is not the case in the narrative that has been built by India in the aftermath of Pulwama attack. Both India and Pakistan will have to work together for dismantling the terror infrastructures wherever they happen to exist and cut off their support. Apart from this, the Crown Prince MBS expressing his readiness to extend any support to India in fight against scourge of terrorism but made no mention of Pulwama attack. Both India and Pakistan have to move forward and resume the much needed dialogue process to inculcate sense of confidence and build on a healthy relationship instead of merely eyeing the vote bank in their respective countries.

 

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