Modi’s diplomatic deception

The belligerent India Prime Minister, Narendra Modi is believed to have told the Chinese leadership, during his recent visit to China, that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is ‘unacceptable’ to India. The Indian External Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj, in her recent news conference in the Indian capital and published in Pakistan’s print media, vociferously stated that Indian PM Modi had clearly told Beijing that the multibillion dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor was totally unacceptable to India. Indian External Minister, Swaraj further said that the Indian government summoned the Chinese envoy over the multibillion dollar investment in Pakistan and the Indian envoy in Beijing had also raised the issue with the Chinese authorities.

This audacious stance of India abundantly endorses the concerns expressed by Pakistan, time and again, that India is creating unrest in Balochistan, and elsewhere in the country, with the expressed intent of sabotaging CPEC that possessed every potential to be a ‘game changer’ for the region. China’s straightforward response to Indian stance on CPEC is indeed very encouraging. China, as reported in the media, has categorically said that the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) will “not target any third party” a day after India reaffirmed its objection to the multibillion dollar project. As reported in the international media, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said, the USD 46 billion economic corridor with Pakistan was a major cooperation framework between the two countries. “It is not only of great significance for promoting the development of China and Pakistan but also of great significance to the stability and development of the whole region,” she said, adding it will not affect China’s stand on the Kashmir issue.

Responding to Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’ statement issued at a press conference in New Delhi that India has conveyed its objections to China over the CPEC as it goes through Azad Kashmir, Hua Chunying said “As for the Kashmir region, it is an issue between Pakistan and India. This issue should be properly resolved through negotiations and consultations between India and Pakistan. “Relevant cooperation extended by China in the relevant region will not target any third party and will not affect China’s position on the relevant issue,” she emphatically stated.

The question that arises is: Will, for once, India endeavour to sincerely appreciate the explicit clarification given by China regarding CPEC? At least when seen in the backdrop of India’s blatant hypocrisy and the frequent summersaults it has taken vis-a-vis its relations with Pakistan, chances seem pretty bleak. On the one hand the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi offers an olive branch to Pakistan by saying that the deadlock between the two South Asian neighbours should end and that violence is beneficial neither for Pakistan nor for India, on the other it is doing everything under the sun to sabotage the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project which, on successful implementation, would not only benefit Pakistan but the entire region. Isn’t this Indian duplicity? Isn’t Pakistan’s Premier Nawaz Sharif then justified in saying that the country’s detractors are envious of its progress and are trying to destabilize it through barbaric incidents like the Mastung bus attack?

M FAZAL ELAHI

Islamabad