Modi concentrated on getting his own message across on the global issues of the day, including the dangers of violent extremism and the need to urgently combat climate change. Modi concentrated on getting his own message across on the global issues of the day, including the dangers of violent extremism and the need to urgently combat climate change.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to New York to participate in the annual session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) had two important objectives. One was to convince the world of India’s case on changing the constitutional status of Jammu and Kashmir and the other was to showcase PM’s new and purposeful commitment to multilateralism. But the challenge was to keep the pursuit of the two diplomatic goals on separate tracks. Pakistan’s premier, Imran Khan, also in New York to address the UNGA, kept up a relentless attack on Modi personally as well as the BJP-RSS on Kashmir. Pakistan’s strategy was about getting the world to intervene in the contestation over Kashmir with India. The PM rightly refused to be drawn into a futile public argument with Pakistan. This is not easy for Indian diplomacy that in the past could not resist the temptation to wrestle in the mud with Pakistan. Modi concentrated, instead, on getting his own message across on the global issues of the day, including the dangers of violent extremism and the need to urgently combat climate change.

Under Modi, India’s multilateralism has taken a distinctive character; the PM has turned it into an interest-driven exercise. Modi’s mobilisation of global support against cross-border terrorism for succeeded in putting Pakistan in the dock before the Financial Action Task Force that seeks to choke off funding for terror groups worldwide. If the PM’s campaign on terrorism was about aligning India’s concerns with those of the world, Modi’s commitment on combating climate change is about accepting national responsibility and demonstrating international leadership. Before Modi, India claimed that it had no reason to address the climate change that was caused by the industrial countries. Modi flipped that around into a policy that actively tilted India’s energy mix towards renewables and unveiled the International Solar Alliance. This year, Modi invited UN member states to join a coalition to promote resilient infrastructure that can cope with climate change and disasters.

Taking the high global road does not mean the Kashmir question is going to disappear from the international discourse. Modi and external affairs minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar embarked on an intensive bilateral diplomacy on the margins of the UNGA to generate understanding of India’s Kashmir move. Barring China and Turkey that extended open support for Pakistan, the rest of the international community seemed willing to give India the benefit of doubt. But the world is unlikely to hold its peace forever. If Delhi fails to quickly normalise the situation or if Imran Khan’s promised “bloodbath” unfolds in Kashmir, India may find itself in an indefensible corner. At New York, diplomacy has won valuable political breathing space for Delhi on Kashmir. It won’t last forever. It is now up to Delhi’s political and security establishment to turn things around in the Valley.

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