An Indian Dhow Drops Anchor

Two Gulf states honour Modi, support Delhi's position. Trump, too, coos consent. Pakistani's Kashmir cry echoes in empty halls

- Pranay Sharma

Smarting under India’s rising stocks in a region that has tradi­tionally stood by it in past crises, Pakistan has launched an agg­ressive diplomatic campaign to enlist the unequivocal support of Gulf nations on Kashmir and recover its status as their most coveted South Asian partner. Much of Pakistan’s dis­ may stemmed from the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain’s decision on August 24 to separately confer their highest civilian awards on Prime Mini­ster Narendra Modi, a leader Imran Khan had been trying to present as the chief tormentor of Kashmiris.

To make matters worse, US President Donald Trump, who the past few weeks had been dangling the ‘mediation betw­een India and Pakistan’ carrot before Imran as a spur to restart the stalled dialogue, agreed with Modi that the two neighbours should resolve the Kashmir issue bilaterally. Modi and Trump met at the G7 Summit at Biarritz, France, where the PM was present as a special invitee of French President Emmanuelle Macron, indicating a growing closeness between the two sides as well as India’s growing global clout.

After their August 26 meeting, in which Modi informed Trump why there was no scope for an outside presence in India­ Pakistan affairs, the two leaders held a joint press conference—marked by mut­ual bonhomie—and told newsmen that South Asian countries should use bilat­eral talks to resolve outstanding issues.

For Pakistan, Biarritz came as a major diplomatic setback, as Islamabad had been banking on Trump to force ‘third party mediation’ on India. Soon after the dispiriting development, Imran decided to take his countrymen into confidence—in a nationwide televised address he vowed to remain a tireless ambassador for the Kashmir cause des­pite the challenges before Pakistan.