Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will be on a two-day visit to China from Tuesday. He will be meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping, his counterpart Li Keqiang and a host of other senior ministers and officials in Beijing. “Pakistan Prime Minister Sharif will definitely try to use this visit to rake up Kashmir in a bid to internationalise the issue, seeking Chinese leadership’s reactions in favour of Islamabad’s interest,” diplomatic sources told The Daily Guardian. “India will keep a close eye on this visit. Any objectionable remarks related to the Kashmir issue would be countered through diplomatic channels,” sources added.
“Remarkably, just days ahead of Sharif’s visit to China, questions on the Kashmir issue were raised by Pakistani media at a presser in Beijing. Indian diplomats see it as a well calculated attempt to set the agenda before Sharif’s meetings with Jinping and Keqiang,” sources said. During the presser in Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said that India and Pakistan should resolve the Kashmir issue through dialogue and consultations and avoid taking “unilateral actions” that could further complicate the situation.
According to sources, the Pakistan premier would be expecting such reactions from the Chinese leaders that he could use to serve his agenda on Kashmir. However, India has on many occasions in the past unequivocally rejected third party intervention on the Kashmir issue, saying that matters related to the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir are entirely its internal affairs. The Ministry of External Affairs has already stated, “Other countries including China have no locus standi to comment. They should note that India refrains from the public judgment of their internal issues.” This is a clear message to China on the Kashmir issue, says a diplomat. Recently, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar told China’s outgoing ambassador Sun Weidong that the normalisation of India-China relations is in the interest of the countries and the region. Weidong had made a farewell call on Jaishankar at South Block. Sources say that Weidong returned to his country with a categorical message from Jaishankar that Beijing must avoid any action that could be detrimental to restoration of peace between the two neighbours. “Obviously, the message to China was on Kashmir also,” sources said. “Any attempt by China to interfere in Kashmir just to please its all-weather ally Pakistan would be countered by India, and such an attempt on Beijing’s part will be a setback for the on-going process to restore normalcy in ties, sources explained.
