INDIA’S diplomatic games just never end and unfortunately Pakistan continues to fall prey to them. In New York, the OIC Foreign Ministers took a firm position on the Kashmir issue and backed the UNSC-backed right of the Kashmiris to self-determination. They also condemned the indiscriminate use of force by the Indian Occupying forces against the unarmed Kashmiri people protesting against Occupation. With the latest Kashmiri intifada gaining greater international attention, India is seeking to deflect the mounting criticism of its human rights abuses in Occupied Kashmir by offering cosmetic policy options such as trying to put together a group of Eminent persons to dialogue with the new youthful Kashmiri leadership. India has also given out that it will seek a review of the security situation and its forces in Occupied Kashmir.
It is in this process of trying to effectively fool the world with cosmetic acts that India has also suddenly sought a dialogue with Pakistan in New York between the two foreign ministers. There is no agenda and it is strange to find the Pakistanis suddenly retract on their earlier position of demanding a structured dialogue including on Kashmir for bilateral dialogue to continue and agree to accept unconditional talks once again. The folly of this move is already apparent because all India is seeking is diplomatic optics to cover up its own abuses in Occupied Kashmir just before its External Minister goes on to Washington to chalk out the programme for Obama’s forthcoming visit to India. – nation