Daily Times

In the post-cold war and post 9/11 scenarios, the US started looking at China as the next competing power that could challenge its superpower status. Hence, the US started pursuing a policy of containing China’s peaceful rise by consolidating its cold war alliances in the Asia Pacific region, and choosing some of the new allies, like India, who also had aspirations to become a major world power to compete with China. Although in its game plan, Indian policy makers knew that India would not act as a US pawn against China.

Despite India’s dubious intentions, the US policy makers still wanted to court it as a strategic/defence partner, just to feel strong by having another major country to its side in the Asia Pacific region to compete with China, apart from Japan, South Korea and Australia. Hence, former president George W Bush went out of the way to court India by signing a nuclear deal with it in 2008.

Subsequently, many agreements were signed, and as a result, India has already been declared as a major defence partner of the US, as part of its newly termed Indo-Pacific strategy. As a consequence, India is getting the US and western countries, energy, economic, military and diplomatic support to become an economic and military power and a permanent member of the UNSC.

India is also a major violator of the UNSC resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir that grant the right to self-determination to the Kashmiris

With all this, India is already boasting itself as a major world power, which is visible from its arrogant policies with respect to its minorities, its genocide in India-held Jammu and Kashmir, its firing across the LOC, its threats to Pakistan of capturing AJ&K, and its denial to hold a dialogue with Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir and other disputes.

Despite all its claims and arrogance, India is yet far away from being a major power, as it is confronted with rampant poverty, its internal divisive policies, BJP’s dangerous policies in Occupied Kashmir and fascist policies in India, and its dangerous tensions with Pakistan over Kashmir.

As India’s economy is hitting recession, its 70 percent population is below the poverty line, as during COVID-19 lockdown the Indian poor was fed by NGOs. In this context, Russia Today aired a program ‘The News with Rick Sanchez’, where it was highlighted that India went into lockdown, the underprivileged class of the population’s life has come to a standstill. Media footages are clear indicators that India, which has galvanized itself as an economic power, is a stark contrast of ground realities.

The poverty is so deep in India that its diaspora abroad is also involved in fraudulent financial and visa/cheating scams to earn money. The Canadian people termed Indian scammers in these words: ‘They’re nothing but financial terrorists’. Up to 74,000 Canadians have complained about the CRA phone scam. More than $16 million has been stolen, making it one of the largest cyber scams in Canadian history.

The Financial Times, India, reported on February 11, 129 Indians were detained for enrolling in a fake university, to fraudulently remain in the US, the US State Department has said. As per the New Indian Express, dated 15 February 2020, Canada’s federal police announced the arrest of an Indian couple linked to an overseas telephone scam. According to the Pie News, an investigation by Immigration New Zealand has uncovered “significant, organised financial document fraud” by Indian bank managers in Hyderabad.

India is a major violator of the human and religious rights of its people. In this context, India’s genocide in Occupied Jammu and Kashmir with 10 months long lockdown and curfew, the killing of the Muslims by Hindu mobs in the New Delhi recently, the lynching of the Muslims on assumptions of cow slaughter, demolition of historic mosques, and forcible conversion of the Muslims and Christians to Hinduism, well covered by the world media, are a threat to India’s integrity in the long term perspective.

India is also a major violator of the UNSC resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir that grant the right to self-determination to the Kashmiris, as it has denied the holding of a UNSC supervised plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir. Instead, on August 5. 2019, the Modi Government abrogated the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and divided it into two federally administered union territories.

India has troubled relations with its neighbours, especially with Pakistan with whom it denies a dialogue to resolve the Kashmir dispute. It is heightening tensions with Pakistan over Kashmir by committing genocide in Occupied Kashmir with 10 months long lockdown, firing across the LoC, and giving threats to nuclear Pakistan that its forces were ready to capture AJ&K.

In view of the above discussion, it can be concluded that confronted with a rampant poverty, its internal religious and ethnic tensions having a potential to break it from within, and its above discussed tensions with Pakistan with its latest imprudent threats of using force to capture AJ&K, that can lead to a catastrophic war in South Asia, India’s own myth of being a major power is well exposed. To realize its dream, India needs to establish peace with Pakistan.

The writer is a former consultant and research fellow of Islamabad Policy Research Institute, and senior research fellow of Strategic Vision Institute, Islamabad