Global India by Chris Ogden

Author:Chris Ogden [Chris Ogden]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781000825404
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2022-10-22T00:00:00+00:00

Kashmir

During the Cold War the USSR shielded India from criticism at the United Nations and in several cases was the only state to veto resolutions on the issue of Kashmir. In the 1990s however, following outreach from Pakistan Moscow’s stance, especially in contrast to previous decades, became more ambiguous. New Delhi’s confidence in Moscow’s support was shattered after the visit of a Russian delegation to Islamabad in December 1991. The joint communiqué succeeding the talks mentioned ‘the deteriorating human rights conditions in Kashmir’ and also stated that ‘the Russian side acknowledged Pakistan’s position [on the dispute] and expressed hope that the issue would be resolved peacefully through negotiations between Pakistan and India on the basis of international agreements’ (quoted in Bakshi, 1999: 1376). Indian observers and officials could not ignore the fact that for the first time Moscow referred to ‘international agreements’ – failing to mention the 1972 Simla Agreement – and acknowledged the existence of a human rights problem (Bakshi, 1999: 1376). President Yeltsin during his trip to India in January 1993 attempted to dispel Indian doubts by saying that Russia ‘supports India’s position on Kashmir firmly and unwaveringly’ (Mohanty, 2001: 56). But his assurance had a short-term effect, because two months later the ‘K’ question was raised by Foreign Minister Kozyrev during his official visit to Pakistan.

By the end of 1990s Moscow began to support India’s stance more consistently but did not rule out a mediatory role between India and Pakistan, if both would demand it. In June 2002, amidst high tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad, President Putin launched a mediation effort by inviting Atal Bihari Vajpayee and General Pervez Musharraf to Moscow for talks after holding separate meetings with each of them in Almaty, Kazakhstan. New Delhi, however, rejected this idea. A similar episode took place in 2019 after the Pulwama terror attack and airstrike exchanges between India and Pakistan. In response to the tense situation Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov did not exclude Moscow helping to mediate between the two countries and providing the venue for their talks. This ‘offer’ was accepted by Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who expressed readiness to discuss the settlement, with Moscow’s assistance (MOFA, 2019). India, in contrast, stated that the mediation issue was a ‘fiction’ and that the two sides would manage without any intermediaries (Embassy, 2019).

France’s position on the issue has been clearly neutral with a perceptible pro-India course since late 2000s. In general, Paris has expressed the view that the issue should not be internationalized, but to be resolved at the bilateral level – repeating principles on the issue for Indian diplomacy. New Delhi had however expected a tougher approach from French diplomacy against Pakistan and the problem of cross-border terrorism. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s Paris preferred not raising it explicitly, but rather considered it wise to keep Islamabad engaged (Racine, 2002: 171). Unlike Russia, France has never offered to mediate between the two, even at the peaks of crisis.

Overall, both Russia and France, though

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