roasted!!

 

 

THE brutal roasting of Pakistan by External Affairs Minister Mr. S Jaishankar at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Goa was result of a self-inflicted mortification by the neighbouring country’s Foreign Minister Mr. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari. The outspoken Pakistani minister resorted to ill-advised insolence at a multilateral platform which had gathered for a different purpose and in the process took another egg in the face. Mr. Jaishankar was at his beastly best in calling out his counterpart as a “promoter, justifier and a spokesperson of terrorism industry” thus giving it back to Pakistan in no uncertain terms. There was no pretense, no diplomatic niceties when the EAM launched a scathing attack on Pakistan and Mr. Bhutto Zardari after being questioned by the Pakistani media over a chance of peace talks between the two estranged neighbours. The frontal aggression by India in the presence of Pakistan’s all-weather friend China changes the geopolitical game in the region even as Islamabad broods over its decision to send a motormouth leader to challenge a seasoned champion!

 

Mr. Bhutto Zardari had no business in raking up India’s internal issues at a press conference attended only by media from his own country. If he was trying to ape former Pakistan chief late General Pervez Musharraf’s attempts made during the aborted Agra Summit, then Mr. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was way off the mark. His inexperience, steeped in arrogance, made him a sitting duck to be hunted and roasted alive which Mr. Jaishankar did with aplomb. Mr. Bhutto-Zardari’s Goa fiasco must now send a message to the military generals in Rawalpindi that New Delhi has changed gears and will not accept meddling in India’s internal affairs.

 

The penchant for raising Kashmir in every talk connecting India did Mr. Bhutto Zardari in. Neither he is qualified to speak on the subject nor he has the wherewithal to challenge India. Yet, much to his own embarrassment, the Pakistani minister harped on the ‘K’ word and was given a chilly reminder of the reality of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir by his Indian counterpart. “Smell the coffee, Article 370 is history,” Mr. Jaishankar’s terse reminder to Pakistan will ring loudly in Islamabad and Rawalpindi for quite some time.

 

The problem this time for Pakistani leadership, on the Kashmir issue, is that the reality has already sunk deep into their people’s psyche. Their concerns have moved well away from Kashmir to their own survival. The country is in a major economic mess, something that was also promptly reminded to Mr. Bhutto by Mr. Jaishankar. As it stares at bankruptcy, there is a double whammy of Pakistan’s own-grown terrorist groups turning against the country. Deep into the slush, Pakistan’s anti-India rhetoric is finding no takers at home as people are revolting against the flawed policies. In such circumstances, Mr. Bhutto Zardari’s hubris over the Kashmir issue was never going to cut ice back at home.

Another finer point of Mr. Jaishankar’s onslaught was a subtle reminder to China about the illegality of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). India yet again told both the partners that their “force multiplier” project cannot violate territorial integrity of other States. New Delhi has long objected to the CPEC as it passes through Gilgit-Baltistan in PoK. This time Mr. Jaishankar chose the right moment to hit two birds with one stone.