Diplomacy is tough and it requires a lot of effort. India’s diplomacy and foreign policy were plagued for decades under the influence of the Nehruvian idea of foreign policy. India, following the Non-Alignment Movement, still could not assure technology transfer from the US and was seen bending to one block, surpassing its own interest for the sake of ideology.
However, with the advent of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the scenario has changed, and today the country knows how to prioritise its national interest first. And this is not going down well with Pakistan.
India-Russia bonhomie
Since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine crisis, there has been a lot of debate and discussion around increasing partnership between Russia and India. However, India and Russia friendship has been going on for the last seven decades, even before it was the USSR.
India had sought some timely cooperation from Russia like that during the 1971 India-Pakistan war. Additionally, India and Russia have been enhancing military ties, with Russia being the biggest and most reliable source, developing arsenals together.
After the Russia-Ukraine crisis and the West-driven sanctions, there has been a multi-fold increase in trade cooperation. Several companies have set up their units in Russia. India and Russia have established their modern-day silk route in the form of the INSTC corridor.
And last but not the least; Russia has become one of the prominent oil exporters of India, supplying oil at a discounted price. This had already irked the western nations, which was taken care of by our External Affairs Minister Dr. S Jaishankar. Now, Pakistan is competing with India on the Russian front.
Pakistan asks for Russian oil
While the entire West and its allies have been criticising India for buying Russian oil, now one of its toothless allies Pakistan wants to buy Russian oil.
Pakistani Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has stated that his country was ready to buy fuel from Russia. However, the statement has an India angle in it, as known to all Pakistan’s existence is because of India. The Pakistani Finance Minister has put forward the condition, that the nation would buy Russian oil only if the fuel is supplied at the same rate as that of India.
The Pakistani minister also claimed that the West would have no problem with his nation importing discounted fuel from Russia. This might be true as the nation has been facing the devastating impact of the floods, as the Western nation who claim to be its masters have failed to provide any concrete help.
For the sake of reminder, Russia has initiated its special military operation in Ukraine, and the presence of the then Pakistani PM Imran Khan was not received well by the United States.
India- US- Pakistan- Russia
The US-Pakistan ties are complicated at the current time. As recently, the US had provided military assistance worth $450 million. However, in the aftermath of that US President Joe Biden said in his address that one of the most dangerous nations with nuclear weapons without any cohesion. A statement that was, later, criticised by PM Shehbaz Sharif.
It might happen that in order to cut India’s influence, Pakistan might have pulled Russia card. This, however, has the potential to irk the West. However, Islamabad needs to understand that diplomacy is a tough game and takes decades of hard work and constant efforts in the right direction to ask for deterred price.
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