Qaisar Mansoor
India holds 2+2 dialogue with four of its strategic partners- US, Russia, Australia and Japan. The Dialogue was preceded by a virtual meeting between Modi and Biden. The dialogue was attended by India’s external affairs and defence ministers, Jaishankar and Rajnath Singh and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
Both countries called for concerted action against all terrorist groups mentioning only so-called Muslim terrorist groups/ organizations. The ministers called on Pakistan to take immediate, sustained and irreversible actions to ensure that no territory under its control is used for terrorist attacks, which was taken as biased and un-called for cry.
Pakistan foreign office rejected the ‘unwarranted reference’ to Pakistan in India-US joint statement and called it a “betrayal to the counter-terrorism focus of both countries”. The FO expressed that India’s insinuations against Pakistan were a desperate attempt to conceal its state-terrorism and brutal atrocities against the subjugated Kashmiris.
India emphasized the importance of upholding international standards on anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism by all countries. However, it has utterly failed in complying with the observation made by FATF. On the other side, Blinken had said on 11th April 2022 that the US was monitoring a rise in human rights abuses in India, in a direct rebuke by Washington of the India’s failing Human Rights record.
On Russia – Ukraine crisis, US president conveyed very clearly that it is not in India’s interest to increase ties with Russia”. Indian fake news factories and its lobby in the US continue to misguide the US policymakers that they can rely on India in their competition vis-à-vis China on inconsistent rationales.
It will cost the US heavily if the expectations regarding India are not reduced. It is pertinent to mention that any country that does not have justice, rule of law and equal opportunity for all cannot become an economic powerhouse.
India’s Human Rights record is shameful. One cannot constitute mere commencement of electoral process as democracy; instead, democracy has its own characteristics. Indian society today lacks essential democratic ingredients thus it cannot be categorized as democracy. Therefore, the Western euphoric lens of viewing India as a beacon of democracy in Asia is purely misguided and misplaced. The world and sane voices in India are loudly calling for a fresh social contract to save the Humanity.
