Coronavirus Can End Lives & Livelihoods, Not Pak’s Hate For India

Pakistan’s irrational animosity towards India stops it from recognising real dangers of coronavirus pandemic. 

Image: Shruti Mathur/The Quint

On 10 April Pakistan foreign minister Shah Mahmud Qureshi wrote, once again, to the president of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). This was his eighth letter after the 5 August 2019 constitutional changes in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K).

Continuing his diatribe against India and the BJP, on this occasion, Qureshi specifically drew UNSC’s attention to domicile rules promulgated by the government of India on 31 March and amended on 3 April. The new provisions are not, at least till now, of general applicability. They apply only to J&K government jobs. However, Qureshi omitted to dwell on this fact.

Misleading the UNSC he implied that new domicile rules cut across the board. He claimed that the objective of these rules was to change J&K’s demography. He asserted that they violated Kashmir related UN resolutions, Geneva conventions on international humanitarian law, the international covenant on civil and political rights. And, in a flourish, he stated, that they compromised the economic, social and cultural rights of the Kashmiri people.

• Pakistan has misled UNSC by implying that new domicile rules aim to change J&K’s demography.
  
• Qureshi also complained about so-called Indian ceasefire violations along the Line of Control (LOC) and the International Border (IB) in J&K.
  
• Pakistan is trying to increase the pace of sending terrorists in J&K.
  
• Modi invited all SAARC leaders to participate in a video-summit on 15 March. Everyone participated except Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan.
  
• Pakistan’s irrational animosity towards India stops it from recognising real dangers of coronavirus pandemic.
  

Pakistan’s Boost to Terrorism During Coronavirus Pandemic

This is a classic case of ‘suppressing truth and suggesting falsehood’. The Pakistan foreign ministry has traditionally indulged in such shenanigans as part of its diplomatic practice and propaganda. It routinely twists the words and statements of its interlocutors. Diplomats who have directly dealt with them know this well and are always wary.

In his letter Qureshi also complained about so-called Indian ceasefire violations along the Line of Control (LOC) and the International Border (IB) in J&K. He alleged that India has committed 900 such violations since December 2019.

The fact is that cross LOC and IB firing is very often linked to Pakistani attempts to infiltrate terrorists.

One recent case occurred on 3 April in the Keran sector when five terrorists tried to cross the LOC. They were engaged by Indian soldiers who neutralised them. In the fire-fight five Indian soldiers lost their lives.

It is noteworthy that this infiltration attempt was not stand-alone. Pakistan is trying to increase the pace of sending terrorists in J&K. The obvious intention is to precipitate terrorist incidents. All this at a time when the whole world is confronting the ravages of COVID-19. Pakistan is particularly ill-prepared to handle the virus.

Pakistan’s Single Point Agenda is to Attack India

Indeed, the country’s supreme court was constrained to take suo-moto notice of the Imran Khan government’s preparations to combat COVID-19. The chief justice made scathing remarks on the country’s political class and senior officials seeking to manage the health crisis. At such a time for Pakistan to write to the UNSC president on J&K only reveals how its Kashmir obsession has reached the stage of neurosis.

This is particularly so for the international community has demonstrated that it has neither the interest nor the appetite to engage on J&K. This is certainly so regarding the legal changes emanating from the 5 August constitutional amendments. This was the case prior to the onslaught of COVID-19 and will be much more so now.

COVID-19 provided an opportunity for the region to seriously co-operate for a danger that could grievously impact it.

Modi made an attempt when he appealed to SAARC leaders to participate in a video-summit on 15 March. All did so with the exception of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Modi and the other leaders overlooked the slight and accepted that Khan’s advisor on health affairs Zafar Mirza take part in the summit.

Mirza used the opportunity to stress the importance of the SAARC secretariat in co-ordinating the cooperative efforts of the member states against COVID-19. This was obviously an attempt to highlight Pakistan’s view that SAARC mechanisms remain stunted because of India. The fact is that India’s insistence that Pakistan should abandon terror before it can convene a SAARC summit is entirely justified.

Pakistan’s Irrational Animosity Towards India

Over the past month Pakistan has refused to respond to Indian initiatives on COVID-19 in SAARC context. It did not participate in a video conference of trade officials to discuss the management of trade during this difficult period. It demanded that the SAARC secretariat should have convened the meeting.

It has also demanded that disbursements of financial aid—India pledged US$10 million—should be done by the secretariat. Whatever may be the technically position under SAARC rules Pakistan is overlooking the basic proposition that extraordinary times require extraordinary measures and procedures.

Pakistan’s current conduct is one more proof of its deep seated and irrational animosity towards India. It is this which prevents it from recognising that larger dangers which can bring untold suffering to the people demand introspection and changed approaches.

It is also unwilling to change course because it feels that the US presently needs it in the Afghanistan context. More than that Pakistan believes that its all-weather friend China will come to its rescue in combatting COVID-19 and in helping it to mitigate the inevitable economic suffering that will follow.

(The writer is a former Secretary [West], Ministry of External Affairs. He can be reached @VivekKatju. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed above are the author’s own.The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)