Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has sent his foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi to the OIC and China, and have him write to the UNSC over abrogation of special status of Jammu and Kashmir but all efforts to solicit international support have failed. (Photo: Twitter/@PTIOfficial)

It has been one week since the Narendra Modi government made moves to end special status of Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution and bifurcate the state into two Union Territories. The decision left Pakistan unnerved with its Prime Minister Imran Khan calling a special session of parliament and launch an all-out campaign against India at all possible levels.

Imran Khan downgraded diplomatic relations with India, sent out emissaries to the UN, China and grouping of Islamic countries - Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) - in order to up ante against India, and warned of another Pulwama kind of terror incident. Forty Indian soldiers had died in a suicide attack on a convoy of the Central Reserve Police Force in February this year.

However, Pakistan's high-pitched campaign over the past one week has left the country more isolated than ever on Kashmir, where security situation remains tense over abrogation of special status. There have been, though, celebrations in Jammu and Ladakh regions since August 5, when Union Home Minister Amit Shah moved resolution for ending special status to Jammu and Kashmir and tabled a Bill for reorganisation of the state.

Pakistan gets colder shoulder in UN

Complaining against India, Pakistan last week wrote a letter to the United Nations regarding abrogation of special status of Jammu and Kashmir. But it found no weight in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) with its president Joanna Wronecka refusing to make any comments.

"No comments," said Wronecka, who remark followed a meeting with Pakistan's permanent representative to the UN Maleeha Lodhi. Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had written to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres claiming India's move on Jammu and Kashmir violated UNSC resolution of 1949.

Significantly, Guterres invoked 1972 Shimla Agreement in his response to Pakistan's complaint. The Shimla Agreement, signed after Pakistan's humiliation in 1971 war, states that India and Pakistan will settle all their issues through peaceful talks bilaterally.

No support from US

Pakistan made fervent appeal to international community including the US to put pressure on India to reverse its decision to abrogate special status to Jammu and Kashmir. But the US, that has reversed its policy of chastising Pakistan that President Donald Trump began after assuming power three years ago in return for bringing Taliban to negotiating table, has played neutral over the matter.

Responding to the development in Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan's complaint, US State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said there was no change in the country's policy on Kashmir. The US called for restraint and appealed to both India and Pakistan to maintain calm in the region.

The US policy on Kashmir has been consistent - in spite of bloopers from Donald Trump - that Kashmir is a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan.

Taliban rebukes Pakistan

Taliban, long considered a protégé of Pakistan Army, too rebuked Pakistan when the latter tried to use its leverage over abrogation of special status to Jammu and Kashmir. Taliban came to negotiating table with the US only after Pakistan convinced it do so.

But when a Pakistani legislator lamented that Pakistan has a deal with Taliban which makes "the Afghans enjoy and celebrate peace in Kabul" but the terror group does not espouse the country's agenda in Kashmir.

Taliban responded with a statement saying Afghanistan cannot be turned into a theatre of competition at the behest of Pakistan. Its spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahed said, "Linking the issue of Kashmir with that of Afghanistan by some parties will not aid in improving the crisis at hand because the issue of Afghanistan is not related."

China keeps Pakistan guessing

China reacted strongly to the Modi government's move on Jammu and Kashmir. It said the move undermined China's sovereignty soon after Amit Shah's statement in the Rajya Sabha. But, its response was limited to Ladakh being made a Union Territory.

A couple of days later, Shah Mehmood Qureshi flew to Beijing holding talks with Chinese leaders. After a meeting between Qureshi and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, China issued a statement saying, "The Kashmir issue is a dispute left from the colonial history. It should be properly and peacefully resolved based on the UN Charter, relevant UN Security Council resolutions and bilateral agreement."

"Bilateral agreement" in the Chinese foreign minister's statement dashed the hopes of Qureshi that its all-weather friend would stand by Pakistan more strongly.

China has laid claim on Ladakh ever since it captured Aksai Chin in 1962 war. This explains its sharp reaction to the Modi government's move to declare Ladakh as Union Territory. Its latest stand is consistent with its previous position which means Pakistan's effort to drum up support has fallen flat in Beijing.

OIC shock for Pakistan

However, the biggest failure for Pakistan came from the OIC, which raised its rhetoric objection to "human rights violations" in the Kashmir Valley but refused to get drawn in the diplomatic battle of Pakistan with India over abrogation of special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

The OIC said that "following a request from the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, an urgent meeting of the OIC Contact Group" on 6 August 2019 to review the recent developments in Jammu and Kashmir. In the concluding statement, the OIC talked raised concerns about "gross human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir" but called for a "negotiated settlement" through talks between the two countries.

This was a kind of reiteration of its old stand by the OIC on Kashmir rendering a lengthy presentation by Shah Mahmood Qureshi almost a futile exercise. Individually, powerful OIC members UAE, Saudi Arabia and Turkey have called for bilateral talks between India and Pakistan for settlement of Kashmir issue.

UAE, on its part, has already termed abrogation of special status of Jammu and Kashmir by the Modi government as "an internal matter of India". Pakistan's failure at the OIC is a reality check for the country.

Pakistan is in deep economic crisis and has taken emergency loans of $2 billion each from Saudi Arabia and China this year. Its economy has been growing at less than 3.5 per cent. On the other hand, India has deepened its economic and strategic ties with all OIC members. India's economy, despite slowdown, is growing at 6.5-7.0 per cent and is about nine times the size of Pakistan economy.

The OIC members value India more for economic engagement and strategic partnership than to pay heed to Pakistan's knee-jerk reaction to an internal matter of India.

Russia's unequivocal support to India

Pakistan is banking on China for moving a resolution in the UNSC against India over Jammu and Kashmir. But an unequivocal support to the Modi government's move from Russia is another setback for Pakistan.

Russian foreign ministry on Saturday said, "We proceed from fact that the changes associated with the change in the status of the state of Jammu & Kashmir and its division into two union territories, are carried out within framework of the Constitution of the Republic of India."

Russia further said India and Pakistan should "not allow aggravation of the situation in the region due to the change by Delhi in the status of the state of Jammu and Kashmir."

Moreover, Foreign Minister S Jaishankar is in China on a three-day visit. Kashmir is bound to figure during his talks with the Chinese leaders as Jaishankar is likely to counter Pakistan's narrative on abrogation of special status to Jammu and Kashmir further.