By Sushil Kutty
It is a myth-busting time. The myth that Muslims and Muslim countries always stood together and that the Muslim Brotherhood made sense. Let’s also have a little Pakistan-bashing. For a reason, of course. Contrary to the thinking of some, not every Muslim country is a supporter of a Muslim country which doesn’t mind using terror as a weapon. This is a finding of the seven delegations India sent abroad to explain India’s stand on why Pakistan was ‘bad’ and India ‘good’?
Why India launched ‘Operation Sindoor’ and why the delegation led by JD(U) leader Sanjay Jha, which touched down in Kuala Lumpur, found the Pakistanis duplicitous customers? There, in the Muslim-majority Malaysia the Indian delegation found that Pakistani diplomats had asked Malaysia to cancel the Indian delegation’s programmes and leave the Indian delegation in disarray.
Did it work, these machinations of the Pakistanis? No, it did not work. It might have, if it was Turkiye, or Azerbaijan. Perhaps even Iran! But it did not work with Malaysia. The JDU leader’s delegation received the full support of Malaysian diplomats. And to think that Malaysia provides a harbour to Indian fugitive Dr. Zakir Naik, whose diatribe against India is a Pakistani day-dream come true. “All programmes of the Indian delegation went as planned,” wrote a section of the Malaysia media.
Pakistan was rewarded with a huge diplomatic snub. Why did it even try? There is the usual blah, blah, blah regarding India as a secular socialist republic where all religions coexist; that Indian children, the majority of them, recite from the heart.
JD(U) MP Sanjay Jha’s delegation included BJP Members of Parliament Aparajita Sarangi, Brij Lal, Pradan Baruah and Hemang Joshi. There was also Trinamool MP Abhishek Banerjee and the CPI(M)’s Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas. To round off, Congress MP Salman Khurshid and former diplomat Mohan Kumar.
Pakistan’s intention was clear-cut: Raise the Kashmir issue and disrupt the Indian delegation’s itinerary, blunt whatever would be the Indian delegation’s broadside against Islamabad. Pakistan’s terror-face must not be bandied about in the world capitals and Muslim countries should help. Pakistan’s terror-face was recognizable in every corner of the world and Pakistan wanted to blindside India with the help of Muslim-majority Malaysia.
Nice try, but Malaysia is no fool. Jha’s delegation pulled it off with little fuss and lots of elan! This delegation also touched down in Indonesia, South Korea, Japan and Singapore. And Pakistan’s hand in the Pahalgam terror attack was self-evident. Such that no cover-up would be possible. The Pakistan-inspired attackers killed 27 Hindus and one Muslim.
Two weeks later India launched ‘Operation Sindoor’ and four days of drones and missiles struck terror in Pakistan. Terror hubs inside Pakistan were bombed and Pakistan military assets were also bombed. Among them the Nur Khan air-base, which has its US links and United States President Donald Trump intervened to announce a “ceasefire” on behalf of India and Pakistan.
Why? India could only explain. The world was India’s oyster! Pakistan, too, thought pretty much the same. And seven Indian delegations consisting of parliamentarians fanned out to all parts of the globe to articulate the Indian position.
Pakistan sent its own delegation led by former Pakistan foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto. On June 3, the Pakistan and Indian delegations were both in Washington D.C., Shashi Tharoor Vs. Bilawal Bhutto.
Whose delegation won? President Trump has a new-found love for Pakistan. It gives great satisfaction to Trump to lead both India and Pakistan by the nose. Crypto-currency is also playing a role. So far, India’s delegations have been on a golden run, but the United States is key.
Shashi Tharoor with his United Nations background is uniquely placed and there cannot be a ‘Malaysia’ done in the ‘United States’. “We visited Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia. Four or five important points emerged… Firstly, delivered a strong message that the entire country stands united against terrorism. Secondly, all countries condemned the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack. Thirdly, India only targeted terrorist centres… Fourth, flights have resumed in Jammu and Kashmir…fifth, action should be taken against Pakistan by the FATF…”
The delegations were formed and sent to sensitise other countries and convey the message that they must support India in its fight against terrorism. And Muslim-majority Malaysia supported India as much as Indonesia supported and hopefully the United States also would, despite all the cobwebs in President Trump’s head.
If Malaysia proved Pakistan wrong, why can’t the United States? It won’t be mere brag to say that every country stands with India and every country strongly condemns terrorism. If terrorism has a country, it’s Pakistan. Malaysia resisted Pakistan’s efforts to divide on the basis of religion.
Pakistan’s efforts to internationalize Kashmir didn’t mean Islamic countries joined hands with Pakistan. That myth lies shattered in a thousand pieces and India finally blunted Zulfiqar Bhutto’s conclusion for India: “Death by a 1000 cuts”. (IPA Service)
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