China stands by Pakistan at BRICS Summit

Sino-Pak ties – still “unique and durable”

Nary had a day gone by since Narendra Modi branded Pakistan a “mothership of terrorism” at a summit of BRICS nations that China sprang to long-time ally Pakistan’s defence. Indian media and its officials present at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s escalated diplomatic drive to isolate Pakistan, put up a brave face, when India was snubbed by China.

Since the BRICS Summit was being hosted at Goa and only a day earlier, India and Russia had signed billions of dollars of defence and energy deals. The Goa Declaration came just a day after President Vladimir Putin assured PM Narendra Modi in their summit meeting that Russia would do nothing to hurt India’s interests. An emboldened Modi fired a broadside at Pakistan. He declared that a country in India’s neighbourhood held links to “terror modules” around the world, which BRICS ─ a bloc consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa ─ should strongly condemn.

He wanted stern action against two Pakistan based jihadist organizations Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) to be mentioned in the BRICS Summit declaration but China blocked it.

Times of India, in a scathing report, titled ‘BRICS Summit: China bulldozed India’s security concerns as Russia looked the other way’ comments that “Prime Minister Narendra Modi has just been delivered an unhappy lesson at the just-concluded BRICS summit in Goa: though nine-tenths of geopolitics is about bluff, the critical one-tenth is about knowing when to fold.”

The Indian prime minister proclaimed, in his closing statement at the summit, that BRICS member-states were “agreed that those who nurture, shelter, support and sponsor such forces of violence and terror are as much a threat to us as the terrorists themselves”. The BRICS 109 paragraph summit declaration, however, doesn’t have a single sentence reflecting this purported consensus—not even the words “nurture”, “shelter” or “sponsor”. Worse, from India’s optic, the summit declaration calls for action against all United Nations-designated terrorist organizations which include the LeT and JeM but names only the Islamic State and al-Qaeda’s proxy, Jabhat al-Nusra—both threats to China and Russia but not to India.

Slighted by China, India’s bête noire, which hurt it more, was Russia’s disinclination to argue India’s case. The result, of course, was a declaration which failed to address India’s core concern of the issue of state-sponsored terrorism. What compounded the matter for India was Russia’s recent military overture with Pakistan in the shape of an anti-terror exercise. In current global power play, Russia is seen increasingly as needing China more than the other way round, but Moscow’s submission to the Chinese position on an issue related to India’s security still has come as a revelation to the Indian authorities and hurts them immensely.

As follow up, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying, asked about Modi’s comments, responded that China opposed all forms of terrorism and that the international community should increase counter-terrorism cooperation.

“We also oppose the linking of terrorism to any specific country, ethnicity or religion. This is China’s consistent position,” she informed a daily news briefing in Beijing.

“Everyone knows that India and Pakistan are victims of terrorism. Pakistan has made huge efforts and great sacrifices in fighting terrorism. I think the international community should respect this,” Hua added. China and Pakistan consider each other “all-weather friends” and have close diplomatic, economic and security ties.

Tensions between Pakistan and India have been heightened since the September 18 Uri army base attack in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK), which killed 19 Indian soldiers in the worst such assault in 14 years. India was quick to blame Pakistan for the attack even before an inquiry into the assault had begun. Hours after the attack occurred, Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh, accusing Pakistan of involvement in the attack termed Pakistan a ‘terrorist state’.

The Uri attack occurred days before Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was set to address the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) regarding Indian human rights violations in IOK. Following the attack, India claimed to have conducted a cross-border ‘surgical strike’ against ‘launch pads of terror’ in Azad Jammu and Kashmir ─ a claim which was disproved by Pakistan with concrete evidence. Prime Minister Narendra Modi avoided addressing the UNGA, delegating the responsibility to his External Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj, who mocked the UN Resolutions on Kashmir by declaring the disputed territory to be an integral part of India. Claiming that there was peace and stability, she also lied through her teeth that Pakistan shied away from peace talks with India whereas the truth is to the contrary and it is India that has scuttled every scheduled talks with Pakistan.

At the UN General Assembly, the Pakistani prime minister highlighted Indian atrocities in IOK. Pakistan maintains India is attempting to divert the world’s attention away from ‘atrocities’ committed by government forces in IOK, which escalated since Indian forces stepped up a crackdown against protesters after Hizbul Mujahedeen commander Burhan Wani was killed by government forces on July 8. Over 110 people have been killed and hundreds of protesters injured in clashes with Indian security forces.

Pakistan and India have clashed thrice earlier over Kashmir, which is an unfinished agenda of the Partition of India in 1947. As a result of the First Kashmir War of 1947-48, United Nations Security Council passed Resolutions over Kashmir, stipulating a plebiscite for Kashmiris to opt for accession to India or Pakistan. India had originally agreed to abide by the UN Resolutions on Kashmir but later reneged under various pretexts. Sometimes it claims that elections in IOK were tantamount to the pledged plebiscite, at others it feigns that the Simla Agreement between India and Pakistan has replaced the UN Resolutions. Ever since Narendra Modi assumed the mantle of power, he has been insisting that Kashmir is an integral part of India and any negotiations will be for Pakistan to return Gilgit Baltistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir to India. Modi’s goons and its ill reputed secret service RAW have stepped up efforts to launch terror attacks in Pakistan’s province of Balochistan, Gilgit Baltistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The arrest and subsequent admission of guilt to machinations to subvert the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and foment trouble in Balochistan and other parts of Pakistan are ample evidence of India’s state terrorism, of which it wrongly accuses Pakistan to be culpable for.

China and Pakistan are “iron brothers” and both have stood by each other in their hour of need. Stephen Cohen, a specialist on South Asia, once commented: “No relationship between two sovereign states is as unique and durable as that between Pakistan and China.” He hit the nail on the head with this home truth. Even the US-Israel ties do not measure up to the depth of the strategic relationship between Pakistan and China, which has withstood the test of time. On May 2, when US Navy SEALS eliminated Osama bin Laden in a surreptitious attack on a residential compound in Abbottabad, the US and the entire world were condemning Pakistan for allegedly harbouring the al-Qaeda leader. China was the only country, which stood up for Pakistan’s defence and reminded everyone of Pakistan’s sacrifices and achievements in the war on terror.

Modi’s odious plan to corner Pakistan and isolate it backfired at Goa and it has only itself to blame for the debacle. Long live Sino-Pak friendship!