resolution: India blames POK-born MEP

NEW DELHI: In a relief for India, the European Parliament decided to postpone voting on a critical anti-CAA resolution to March even as it went ahead with the debate on Wednesday. The resolution was jointly introduced by five major groups across political leanings.The groups — from centre-right to far-left — account for more than 500 MEPs in the 751-member house. But when the resolution was taken up, of the 483 MEPs present, 271 voted to delay the vote on resolution, while 199 didn’t want it postponed and 13 abstained. An official source said India’s diplomatic offensive in the past few days, mainly in Brussels but here too with European envoys, resulted in a “diplomatic win” where the vote has been put off. The diplomatic drive was aimed at clearing up “misunderstandings” over the nature and implications of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.The proposal to postpone the vote was brought by Michael Gahler , a member of the group of the centre-right European People’s Party, which has the largest number of MEPs (182).With the vote kicked down the road, India has more time to work diplomatic channels and reach out to MEPs. India has also blamed POK-born MEP Shaffaq Mohammed for the resolution.Friends of India prevailed over the Friends of Pakistan in the European Parliament today. Strenuous efforts of outgoing British MEP Shaffaq Mohammad to have a resolution passed by the European Parliament against India on the penultimate day before Brexit were defeated, said a source. British MEPs will cease to be members of the European Parliament once Brexit comes into effect on Friday.The CAA is a matter internal to India and has been adopted through a due process through democratic means. We expect that our perspectives in this matter will be understood by all objective and fair-minded MEPs, the Indian source added. While the joint resolution dropped mention of Kashmir and UNSC resolutions, which one of the groups had mentioned, it saw no tempering of language.The joint resolution said it deeply regrets the adoption and implementation of CAA, which it says is discriminatory in nature and divisive. It further says CAA violates India international obligations and warns against increasing nationalism, which it claims has fuelled religious intolerance against Muslims.The resolution though was never going to be binding on the European Council, which is responsible for setting the political agenda and, as Indian officials have repeatedly pointed to, could not be seen as the EU official position. As France has already said, the European Parliament is an institution independent of member states and the European Commission.Sources said the EU was looking forward to the annual India-EU summit in March and the business and trade opportunities it might lead to. They didn’t rule out discussions with Indian authorities on the new act though.The problem for India is that the resolution still retains some of the nastiest bits from the earlier resolutions.