Treacherous and hazardous are these waters (Part 1)

Delhi and Washington – the ties grow tighter

“…to divert the international attention, Indian leadership is howling about terrorism. How strange: a terrorist condemning terrorism.”

United States has since long been involved in the obliteration of international peace, especially in its involvement in the Middle East region – which is disgusting, and getting alarming and more horrifying as every day passes. So is Washington’s involvement in South China Sea and its severe reservations for North Korea, vis-a-vis U.N. Security Council’s strict sanctions which have been imposed on the poor nation who want to be self-sufficient in their national security. Now, the States’ statement favouring India is aghast and clearly shows juvenile mentality of Trump.

So is the case with India, disturbing the regional peace since long with its exasperating behaviour by supporting terrorism within India (killing Kashmiri & other freedom fighters) and in the neighbourhood specially Pakistan and China. Indian governments should realise that within India, several movements of freedom are struggling for their autonomy. But, to divert the international attention, Indian leadership is howling about terrorism. How strange that sounds: a terrorist condemning terrorism. After all, almost all Indian leaders have been supporting terrorism, Modi is no exception, rather a bit more radical than the others.

Inside India, occupied Kashmiris are struggling for their rights since 1947, they want independence. Tamil-Nado, Assam, Sikkim and Nagaland are struggling for their autonomy. The Sikh want to have their own country “Khalistan” and are struggling for their freedom. Over and above, the “Lower Caste Hindus” want to have their own independent state because of the everyday killings of this caste by the “Brahman” Hindus. And of course, Indian leadership is trying to conceal this fact from the outer world by creating disturbance in other countries and howling against terrorism. It’s exactly like; Terrorists, talking against terrorism.

Last year in September 2016, North Korea’s foreign minister, while getting a chance, condemned the United States. In a defiant speech before the U.N. General Assembly, Ri Yong Ho had said that the Korean Peninsula has been turned into the world’s most dangerous hot spot which can even ignite the outbreak of a nuclear war. He blamed the United States and its hostile policy against North Korea and had warned the United States of dreadful consequences beyond imagination.

Again, during last year Narendra Modi, Indian Prime Minister while visiting United States with Obama as president had made statements which had raised many questionable objections. NOW; once again, he managed to visit United States through diplomatic sources, mentioning that he was going to an insane president.

Now Modi, out of some unknown fear, once again has rushed to USA for help and aid, but Trump behaved more like a businessman than a politician, he without offering any aid, signed a deed for sale of arms to India, with some latest fighters. But Trump’s statement declaring Kashmiri Freedom Fighters as “Terrorists” shows his juvenile and irresponsible approach towards international affairs, secondly his supporting Modi, will equally turn the world into the world’s most dangerous hot spot, Kashmir, which can ignite the outbreak of a nuclear war, if not controlled.

An Indian Ex-Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar has pointed out that Trump has given to Modi some difficult homework to undertake;

1. Trump wasted no time to bring up the trade deficit ($30.8 billion). Trade deficit ($30.1 billion) with the US brings in its wake a host of complicated issues, tariffs, intellectual property rights, market access and so on.

The big Indian order for 100 aircraft from Boeing and the prospect of a long-term $40 billion LNG deal hasn’t pacified Trump.

The LNG deal itself means buying natural gas from the US shale industry at a higher price that what imports from Iran or Qatar cost.

2. Trump showered praise on Modi, but it is yet to translate as “personal chemistry”. Modi didn’t switch to “Donald”with the delectable ease with which he called “Barack”.

Delhi plans to approach Trump via his daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, who are foreign policy wonks but quintessentially a headed business power couple. Modi invited Ivanka to lead the US delegation to the Global Entrepreneurial Summit in India at the end of the year. Ivanka accepted. Once Ivanka arrives, things will, hopefully, pick up. Ivanka’s influence on Trump’s foreign policy is not in doubt. She was reportedly instrumental in getting Trump to order the missile strike in Syria, after watching the horrific television clippings of the chemical attack in Idlib.

To Modi’s surprise and shock: in essence, the Trump White House put on record that Pakistan is also a victim of terrorism.

3. The Trump administration visualises that Pakistan will be a key interlocutor on regional security issues and, therefore, as the Americans say, keeps all options on the table.

Just ahead of Modi’s speech in Washington on Sunday, the White House released a statement condemning the terrorist strikes in Parachinar and Quetta in Pakistan on Friday, underscoring that it is a strong reminder of the threat posed throughout the region by the scourge of terrorism.

4. In a veiled reference to Afghanistan, Modi wrote in an op-ed in The Wall Street Journalthat India had a 40-year experience in fighting terrorism. But Trump confined himself to thanking the Indian people for their ‘contributions to the effort in Afghanistan.’ In this delightfully vague formulation, he probably advised India not to wade into the Afghan war.

Without doubt, China was the elephant in the Oval Office and Trump would have sensed that Modi’s foreign policy architecture has become disoriented sans the Washington’s pivot to Asia. Yet, he kept a deafening silence on China, the South China Sea, or the Asia-Pacific.

Modi, on the other hand, had a fulsome paragraph in his prepared text: ‘In the Indo-Pacific region, in order to maintain peace, stability, and prosperity in the region, this is also another objective of our strategic cooperation in this area.’

Trump refused to inherit the Obama-Modi Joint Vision statement of January 2016 on Asia-Pacific security.

This will come as a huge disappointment to the Modi government. But then, Trump is preparing for a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping next week in Hamburg, which will be followed by a State visit to China later this year.

With the above, it’s clear that Trump gives a clear message to India into believing that it could be a counterweight to China in US policies. In fact, he isn’t looking for any “counterweight”.

For years Modi was barred from entering the United States because of his radical approach and terrorist activities. Demolition of Babri mosque and his involvement in 2002 riots in the Indian state of Gujarat that cost the lives of more than 2,000 innocent people, are a few incidents of his terrorist approach and acts. The West had called him the “Butcher Chief Minister”. But as he rose as a national political figure in India, United States’ diplomats sought to put that difficult history to rest. Some members of Congress had criticised Modi’s human rights record, but the politics of a visit by an Indian leader have also changed.

Modi was the fifth Indian prime minister to address Congress in 2016. As Prime Minister of India the double-faced Narendra Modi condemned global terrorism and said during a lengthy address to Congress on 8^th June 2016, that growing terrorism is a threat to the economic ties of both the countries.

Now isn’t that hypocritical?