Dangerous Liaisons
India and Pakistan have halted military actions for now, a day after Pakistan breached a ceasefire initially announced to the world by US President Donald Trump on 10th May 2025. This comes after intense cross-border drone and missile strikes that brought both nuclear-powered nations close to the brink of a full-scale war. US President Donald Trump took the world by surprise by announcing that a night of talks mediated by Washington helped secure the ceasefire deal. Trump also offered to work with both countries for a ‘solution’ on the Kashmir issue. India has said it will not accept any third party intervention in the talks. On the other hand, Pakistan has for decades been clamouring for third party mediation in the Kashmir tangle.
India has to learn that it cannot trust the US vis-a-vis Pakistan, as our western neighbour has been a strategic partner of America for decades. Also, Pakistan as a ‘rouge state’, as referred to by the US in the past, remains crucial to keep running America’s own military-industrial complex. That is why, the timing of disbursement of $1 billion by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to Pakistan at this critical juncture of conflict with India shows the real intent of the United States, without whose approval, IMF cannot possibly disburse funds. This huge sum of money is certainly not going to be spent by Pakistan on education or healthcare but to go shopping for military equipment to fuel its war efforts against India.
It is important to note that six out of the world’s top ten defence companies are American. Wherever there is a point of conflict in the world, there is a surge in weapons sales. The French company Dassault Aviation which makes the Rafale fighter jets has seen its share prices surge by ten per cent in the two weeks of Indo-Pak tensions since the Pahalgam terrorist attack.
On the other hand, the coverage of this whole escalation between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of the Pahalgam massacre by the international media has not been pro-India. It won’t be wrong to say that India has to fight this narrative war that is being waged against it. Also, the parallels that are being deliberately drawn between Palestine and Kashmir in the global media and the likening of India to Israel as the ‘aggressor’ are certainly harming India’s interests in this narrative war.
Coming to China, our eastern neighbour has predictably and clearly sided with Pakistan and would be happy to pick the tab in this proxy war against India. In this situation, Indians seem to have become quite vocal against Turkey and Azerbaijan for those countries’ support to Pakistan and are calling for economic boycott against these countries. While that is a welcome sign, we often forget that India’s big enemy is China and it is the dragon we should be mainly focusing on for when we talk of economic boycott. In 2024 alone, India’s imports from China were valued at $126.96 billion. The huge money that India pays to China for its products is used against India’s interests. India must work on its China strategy immediately. Not wait for any future trigger of conflict with Pakistan.
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