External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar was right when during an interview recently he indicated that India is unlikely to come to aid of Pakistan which is struggling with its worst economic crisis in decades with its foreign exchange reserves at their lowest in ten years. Jaishankar made it clear that India does not see its western neighbour through the same lens as Sri Lanka. Another significant remark made by Jaishankar was that “every country’s future is largely determined by its actions and choices it makes.”
“I think Pakistan’s future is largely determined by Pakistan’s actions and by Pakistan’s choices. Nobody reaches a difficult situation suddenly and without cause. It is for them to find a way out. Our relationship today is not one where we can be relevant directly to that process.” These words of Jaishankar assume significance amid the questions whether India would be extending any kind of help to Pakistan facing the massive economic crisis. As a matter of fact, the message that the Indian foreign minister sought to send out was that Pakistan is in the mess of its own making. There is no denying that India and any other nation of the world have deep sympathy for the people who are suffering a lot due to the existing deep economic crisis in Pakistan. But at the same time, Pakistan’s actions, which are largely responsible for the present mess, need to be recalled and analysed. Jaishankar’s words that nobody reaches a difficult situation suddenly and without a cause have a significant message for Pakistan. Even as Pakistan faces economic collapse, the global community cannot at the same time forget how Islamabad continued to back cross-border terrorism with financial and other logistical support. Instead of focusing on what could ensure the country’s financial and developmental growth, the government in Pakistan remained involved in the conspiracies to foment troubles in Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of India. The Mumbai terror attacks perpetrated by the terrorists with full backing of Pakistan are some of the examples of this. Pakistan, which is now staring at the debt default, has been actively involved with China in the latter’s agenda to create one problem for India or the other. Despite India’s objection, Pakistan continued to go ahead with CPEC projects with China. Why is Beijing not coming up with sufficient help to save Pakistan from the current mess? Whatever help China has extended to Pakistan so far is just insufficient, experts say.
The global community is not unaware of how Pakistani state actors were behind every conspiracy to target India’s mission in Afghanistan. Undoubtedly, the Pakistani government has been wasting its entire energy and financial resources on the negative actions and plans just to create problems for India.
Surprisingly, Pakistani leaders and diplomats still continue to rake up the Kashmir issue at UN and other forums even while their country is on the brink of bankruptcy. Who will help such a country whose priority is Kashmir while its citizens are starving? Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who was till the other day seeking resumption of bilateral ties with India, next day resorted to Kashmir tactic to internationalise the issue. He did all this while seeking help from the UAE and other gulf countries, who advised him to mend fences with India. Pakistan’s leaders continue to smear India even now. India-bashing continues to be the top agenda for the political leaders in Pakistan. During a TV channel discussion, a Pakistan diplomat said recently that nobody is thinking about India in Pakistan even amid the crisis. The international community cannot be oblivious to how leaders are behaving in an irresponsible manner even when Pakistan is mired in an unprecedented economic crisis wherein the price of a litre of milk has surged to Pakistani Rs 250 and chicken, a staple diet of Islamabad has shot up to Rs 780 per kg. Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had made uncivilised statements against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Bhutto was also seen raising the Kashmir issue at the United Nations Security Council while his country was grappling with an economic crisis. As a foreign minister, Bhutto should have shown some positivity and reached out to the global community seeking assistance from it to tide over the crisis. So, Jaishankar’s remarks on the question of the possibility of India extending any aid to Pakistan should be viewed in this background and context.