India thwarts China’s bid to raise Kashmir issue at Security Council

India on Thursday came down heavily on China for its attempt to rake up the issue of Jammu and Kashmir “in a bid to internationalise it”, obviously to divert the global community’s attention from its military misadventure along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.

As reported by The Daily Guardian on Wednesday, India was preparing its tough response to China for its objectionable remarks on the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir. India chose the forum of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to ventilate its reaction on China’s utterances. Apart from Wednesday’s comments from China’s foreign ministry, the immediate provocation was another bid by China to raise the Kashmir issue in UNSC.

Countering China’s attempt to raise the issue of Kashmir, India hit out at it asking Beijing to draw proper conclusions from such “infructuous attempts”. India “firmly” rejected its “interference” in the country’s internal affairs.

In fact, China backed an attempt by Pakistan to discuss the Kashmir issue at the UN Security Council on Wednesday, coinciding with the first anniversary of the reorganisation of Jammu and Kashmir by India.

According to sources, Indian diplomatic team was waiting in wings to mount a massive verbal offensive on China since Wednesday evening. Top MEA leadership had readied the facts and figures to pack India’s response with. The strategy was to counter China’s propaganda at a forum no less than the UNSC where New Delhi could be able to send out a strong message to the entire world about the real motive of Beijing. And, China’s motive is clear to one and all. It is resorting to all sorts of unfair means to illegally occupy the territory that does not belong to it at all. China’s expansionist and authoritarian approach in the South China Sea has also been taken note of by the world community.

 The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said it firmly rejects China’s interference in India’s internal affairs. “We have noted that China initiated a discussion in the UN Security Council on issues pertaining to the Indian Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.

“This was not the first time that China has sought to raise a subject that is solely an internal matter of India. As on such previous occasions, this attempt too met with little support from the international community,” it added.

The MEA further said: “We firmly reject China’s interference in our internal affairs and urge it to draw proper conclusions from such an infructuous attempt.”

The entire world is watching how China is engaged in a bitter border row with India in eastern Ladakh. With this in view, India has been able to impress upon the world that China’s fresh move to internationalise the Kashmir issue is aimed basically at diverting the attention from the standoff.

On August 5 last year, India announced its decision to withdraw special powers of Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcate the state into two Union Territories. China has been opposing India’s reorganisation of J&K. What was a setback to China was New Delhi’s decision to make Ladakh a Union Territory. Actually, China lays claim over several parts of Ladakh.