Ever since India moved to abrogate Article 370 thereby fully integrating Jammu and Kashmir with the rest of India, the Imran Khan government have suffered a series of glorious meltdowns. Their crocodile tears and whining have been paid no heed in various international forums as Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has made it a point to raise the issue of Kashmir in every global forum at the first opportunity available. However, for the first time, Qureshi didn’t raise the Kashmir issue during Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), perhaps to avoid earning the wrath of the host, Russia.
It will be foolhardy to expect Imran Khan and his lackeys to stop whining about Kashmir, as during Khan’s campaign trail, his pledge to solve the Kashmir conundrum was one of the major reasons why he was elected at the first place. The Modi government has played a spoilsport as not only has the Indian government revoked Article 370, but the fact that Union Home Minister Amit Shah on the floor of the parliament has pledged to lay down his life to take back Pakistan occupied Kashmir has caused a flutter in Pakistan especially in the backdrop of the surgical strikes.
Hence, Imran Khan and Qureshi have made it a point to raise the issue of Kashmir in every international forum, even in those where India isn’t a participant, so as to project a false sense of bravado. However, during the SCO meet of the Foreign Ministers, Qureshi refrained from explicitly mentioning Kashmir, which is a break from tradition.
#SCO meet :
The first international platform where Pak FM @SMQureshiPTI has not said the word #Kashmir.The host (Russia) might not have liked politicisation of the SCO platform. pic.twitter.com/PfNxydE0jG
— Geeta Mohan گیتا موہن गीता मोहन (@Geeta_Mohan) September 10, 2020
This move is seen as an attempt to not risk the ire of Russia which has already pledged that it will not supply arms to Pakistan keeping in mind the “request and sensitivities of the Indian side.”
While Qureshi’s speech didn’t have an explicit mention of Kashmir, he did attempt to generalise the issue as he stated that, “we must also condemn and held accountable the perpetrators of State terrorism against people under illegal occupation in disputed territories.”
Roman Babushkin, Deputy Chief of Mission at the Russian Embassy in New Delhi, made an important observation about why forums like the SCO shouldn’t discuss bilateral issues. He said, “Every issue could be discussed in the institutions mentioned but the point is that all of them function on the principle of ‘consensus’. We need to understand if all the other participants are ready and willing to discuss this particular issue.”
He added, “We must respect them as well. We also follow the rule that any bilateral dispute is not discussed at the SCO. Russia as a country promotes peaceful resolution of problems… Any kind of dialogue is better than escalation.”
The fact that even with the presence of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Qureshi desisted from bringing up Kashmir at the SCO and this holds enormous significance and clearly shows that Pakistan didn’t want to further enrage Russia by spending white lies over Kashmir and Russia’s strongest ally, India.
