"Diplomacy Is Not About Crying Wolf": India's Advice To Pakistan On Kashmir

A day after yet another attempt by China to raise the Kashmir issue before the United Nations Security Council flopped, India's Permanent Representative to the UN Syed Akbaruddin today advised Pakistan to reopen traditional diplomatic channels instead of "crying wolf" through its regional ally.

"Diplomacy is not about crying wolf. It is about taking tough but realistic steps, steps that can even be small. And that small step has to be where we were on August 5," Mr Akbaruddin told NDTV, condemning the manner in which Pakistan had responded to the scrapping of Jammu and Kashmir's special status last year by expelling the Indian High Commissioner and suspending bilateral trade.

Mr Akbaruddin claimed that diplomacy requires clear channels, something that Pakistan disrupted over five months ago. "So, perhaps, the first step for them is to move in that path and show serious intent at diplomacy," he said.

China, which considers itself Pakistan's "all-weather ally", had on Wednesday made a fresh pitch to raise the Kashmir issue under "other matters" during closed consultations in the Security Council Consultations Room. "Among the five permanent members, there was one that used its presence in the council to push for a discussion on Kashmir. All the other permanent members talked very differently. The global consensus is now evident for anyone who wants to listen to it," said Mr Akbaruddin.

China has made three attempts to internationalise Kashmir through such interventions so far, with the last two occurring in the latter half of 2019. The Indian diplomat said the renewed attempt may have just been a case of Beijing trying its luck with new faces on the security council. "The composition of the security council, which is a 15-member body, changes every year. Last year, there were five members who were different from this year. The belief was probably that the results would be different because of the changed composition," he told NDTV.

According to Mr Akbaruddin, the outcome of the latest informal meet shows that the entire world considers Kashmir to be an issue that has to be addressed bilaterally between India and Pakistan. "In baseball, there's a term: Three strikes and you are out. It is for them to understand what is clearly manifest to everybody else in the UN," he said.

The diplomat also criticised Pakistan over its use of terror as a state policy. "No normal state does that. We stand ready to engage in a normal manner," he said.

Mr Akbaruddin sidestepped a question on whether India's invitation to Pakistan for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in New Delhi later this year could turn out to be an opportunity for the two countries to resume diplomatic ties. "We are a responsible state that abides by its commitments. If we host a summit, we invite all the members who are required to participate in that summit," he said.