India will expose Pak allies — China and Türkiye

INDIA has cautioned China and Türkiye — Pakistan’s all-weather friends — that there can’t be business as usual unless both nations see the error of their ways. Beijing and Ankara firmly threw their weight behind Islamabad, militarily as well as diplomatically, after the Pahalgam terror attack and during the four-day-long India-Pak hostilities. India has reminded China that mutual trust, respect and sensitivity are the basis of their ties. The message to Türkiye is that it should urge Pakistan not only to stop sponsoring cross-border terrorism but also “take credible and verifiable action against the terror ecosystem it has harboured for decades”.

India has visibly upped the ante against Türkiye in view of its support to Pakistan during Operation Sindoor. Several Turkish firms operating in the country are under intense scrutiny. Citing national security concerns, the Indian government has revoked the clearance granted to a Turkish firm for ground handling at various airports, even as Adani Airport Holdings has terminated its pact with a Chinese lounge access provider.

New Delhi is expected to take tougher measures in a bid to intensify pressure on Ankara, but it might tread warily in the case of Beijing, and understandably so. The fact that China is India’s second-largest trading partner (after the US) has an important bearing on bilateral ties. The prolonged standoff at the Line of Actual Control and the uneasy calm thereafter have not impacted trade, even though India keeps insisting that normalisation of ties depends on efforts to resolve the border dispute. The ever-growing trade imbalance is heavily skewed in China’s favour, underlining India’s overdependence on Chinese goods. It won’t be easy to scale down business ties with China. However, the ongoing global outreach offers India a good opportunity to name and shame China as well as Türkiye for providing assistance to an incorrigible Pakistan. The onus is on Delhi to expose Pak allies, who are brazenly defending the indefensible.

Editorials