The 74th regular session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), commonly known as UNGA 74 has proved to be a significant event for South Asian politics in which two nuclear weapon states are fighting over the disputed territory of Kashmir. The inflexible standing of the leaders from both nuclear powers are presently the focus of the international community due to Indian PM Modi’s belligerent policy of dealing with neighbouring states. The recent phase of troubled India-Pakistan relations in the presence of the United States has already alerted leaders from the world’s capitals. President Trump apparently showed his intentions for resolving the territorial dispute and possible clashes between the two nuclear weapon powers. While communicating the greater American plans for peace and stability in South Asia, Trump declared his position as a mediator in addressing the Kashmir problem. As a third party, the role of Washington cannot simply be ignored due to its close strategic ties with India. The meetings between Indian, American and Pakistani leaders on the sidelines of the UNGA 74 portrayed a worrisome picture of South Asian future in which the close strategic bonds between Washington and New Delhi alienated Islamabad. This gathering of 193 member states of the UN in New York headquarter was considered a ray of hope for South Asian politics where the mainstream issues of the nuclearised subcontinent needed to be addressed because the UN has always been considered an international forum for brainstorming session on various global issues related to its Charter.
The annual meetings of the UNGA is generally defined by the UN as an important gathering of the leaders from every corner of the world to discuss global issues. The UNGA, one of the six main organs of the UN, hosted this meeting in New York under the broader theme of “galvanising multilateral efforts for poverty eradication, quality education, climate action and inclusion”. These meetings are broadly considered as an appropriate avenue where dozens of leaders from across the globe gather to discuss the issues of common interest or international importance. In other words, this unique international gathering as a multilateral discussion forum generally attempts to design theoretically strong and practically applicable measures to overcome the wide range of issues affecting the fundamental principles of the UN. While keeping in view the central theme of the UN, the UN Secretary-General, General Antonio Guterres, mentioned taking constructive measures which can initiate dialogue to resolve the South Asian crisis, at the start of 74th session of the General Assembly. He further described the global landscape depicting a horrible face of a world where a persistent wave of conflicts along with swelling levels of terrorism and the risks of new arms races are becoming issues of daily occurrence.
The UN chief informed world leaders about the alarming situation between two nuclear powers which are fighting over the disputed territory of Kashmir and tensions between them are escalating. An alteration in the traditional legislative status of Indian occupied Kashmir is the root cause of the ongoing India-Pakistan crisis. The issue of a curfew imposed by New Delhi in the occupied areas of Kashmir has generated a miserable picture of humanity in which the freedom of movement along with basic necessities of life have been suspended. The custodians of peace and stability from around the world accepted the problems of the almost two months long lockdown in Kashmir, the arrest of countless people by New Delhi, cutting of all communication networks and stopping of internet services. This aggressive Indian move has blocked the way of peaceful settlement of this dispute and has made international efforts for generating peace in the nuclearised subcontinent more difficult.
Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN, Maleeha Lodhi, cleared Islamabad’s position in this annual global gathering of leaders. The participation of Imran Khan in the 74th session of the UNGA is “mission Kashmir”, which is an attempt to let the world understand the pain of Kashmiri people living under Indian occupation, according to Lodhi. The Pakistani delegation from Islamabad highlighted the various human rights violations in occupied Kashmir by New Delhi and requested the international community to use their influence and eliminate the state of imprisonment imposed by the Modi government, remove the indefinite curfew imposed by Indian security forces in the Muslim majority areas of Kashmir. Pakistani leaders under the leadership of Prime Minister, Imran Khan, remained active and determined in keeping the Kashmir issue in the list of international crisis. The grim situation of Indian occupied Kashmiri territories is an issue threatening the global efforts of peace and stability. Modi’s aggressive policies have undermined the UN mission of peace and development. Modi’s attempts to change the demographical structure of Kashmir has not only challenged the global mission of peace, but it has also undermined the actual spirit of international law, according to Pakistani representatives in the New York.
Regarding South Asian politics, the bilateral meetings between American and Indian state officials under the leaderships of Trump and Modi emphasised the widening of bilateral cooperation between their nations. The 150th year of Gandhi’s birth was celebrated in New York, where the leaders of different countries admired the life of Gandhi and his life’s mission. Indian Prime Minister said, “Gandhi was an Indian, but he didn’t belong only to India”. Moreover, various meetings between state representatives of New Delhi and Washington concluded several plans for enhancing economic and strategic cooperation in various fields. Prime Minister Modi along with his team including Indian External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, and Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale finalised several economic measures in a meeting with President Trump. Modi’s strategic efforts during this global gathering of leaders were linked to India’s dream of becoming a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for 2021-2022.
In reaction to Pakistan’s efforts in the UN 74th session, the reaction of the international community remained quite dismal and insignificant. Prominent world leaders showed reluctance in pressuring Modi for a peaceful resolution of territorial issues with Pakistan parallel to respecting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in the occupied areas of Kashmir. Moreover, in the nuclear environment where a minor miscalculation between two contestants could cause a significant confrontation linked to use of unconventional arms capabilities, great responsibility lies on the international community who are the custodians of global peace but are failing to make accountable the culprit in South Asia. Modi’s aggressive policies for the neighbouring states mainly an unending antipathy towards Pakistan is constructed on an anti-peace approach. Additionally, US state officials agreed to widen the scope of strategic cooperation with New Delhi and decided to place the strategic partnership between Modi and Trump ahead of their economic collaboration. No doubt, both nuclear weapon states can peacefully settle various points of disagreements and define a new future for South Asian in which both nations can live peacefully in an environment of mutual respect, but the conditions for generating a state of mutual respect, diplomatic cooperation and economic collaboration have become difficult due to Modi’s anti-neighbourhood policy. In this way, the question of India-Pakistan hostility is heavily linked to Indian belligerent behaviour for the territorially adjoining countries.
The two terms of Modi’s administration cultivated the economic and strategic ties with the developed countries and reduced chances of any global debate on the Kashmir issue. Additionally, New Delhi’s global outreach based on an improved foreign policy framework forced the active capitals of the world to less emphasis on Kashmir. Consequently, the UN’s 2030 agenda for Sustainable Development which is heavily based on the promotion of peace in the world has lost its relevance to the South Asian politics where the great powers have associated their geopolitical interest to New Delhi. In other words, the dramatically changing positions of leaders from around the world over Kashmir has reduced the roles of mediators or facilitators in addressing the Kashmir problem. A diminishing role of the international community in discussing the South Asian nuclear flashpoint has left the scope of peace and stability unaddressed under the broader framework of Modi’s foreign relations. The annual occasion of global significance held in New York was considered to be an effective platform to address the world’s most unaddressed and unsolved problem. However, the vision of peace and stability from the UN platform has been hijacked by the Modi government.
