Munir's Lunch Diplomacy Fails as Quad Stands Firm

Last week, at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meeting in India, India foiled the conspiracy of Pakistan and China by not allowing the joint statement of the organisation to be issued. When Defence Minister Rajnath Singh refused to sign the joint statement, which did not even mention the Pahalgam attack, but mentioned the Balochistan attack in Pakistan. A week after this incident, a meeting of the foreign ministers of the Quad countries America, Australia, India and Japan was held in America. In this, all the countries unanimously condemned the terrorist attack on Pahalgam. The statement issued from American soil showed Pakistan its place. Pakistan continuously hatches terrorist conspiracies by misunderstanding India's strength. It did not learn any lesson from the Balakot air strike and surgical strike. This time it shot itself in the foot by carrying out an attack in Pahalgam.

India took revenge for this attack with Operation Sindoor. Pakistan's army chief Asim Munir, who was scared of Operation Sindoor, went and sat in America's lap and even did lunch diplomacy at Donald Trump's house. But now Foreign Minister S. Jayankar has demolished Munir's diplomacy in one stroke. Although Pakistan's name was not mentioned in the joint statement of Quad, the statement has a strong and clear message for Pakistan. Quad roared to bring the culprits of Pahalgam attack to justice. Asim Munir thought that America has become his parents and it will not support India. But Jaishankar's presence changed his whole game. As far as not taking Pakistan's name in the statement is concerned, America's double standards are behind it. In 2018, during his first term, US President Donald Trump, in his characteristic style, enunciated the sense of Washington being taken advantage of by Rawalpindi and Islamabad: “The United States has foolishly given Pakistan over $33 billion in aid over the last 15 years and they have given us nothing but lies and deceit, while treating our leaders like idiots… They provide safe haven to terrorists.” “I love Pakistan,” he said a few days earlier. It would be easy to view the unprecedented White House lunch meeting between Trump and General Asim Munir—the first time a military leader who is not the head of state in Pakistan has been accorded such an honour—as a major U-turn. In fact, India-US ties have steadily deepened over the past three decades based on convergence of economic and strategic interests and shared values, even as US-Pakistan relations have become more volatile. The current moment in international relations is fluid and Delhi must tread carefully.

The Quad group has given a stern warning to Pakistan as well as China regarding its increasing interference in the East China Sea and the South China Sea. Any unilateral attempt in the sea has been opposed which tries to change the status quo by using force or pressure. To counter China, the Quad group has announced to start an initiative to secure mineral supplies.

Talking about the goal of the Quad, its main objective is to protect each other's interests in the Indo-Pacific region. This forum has been formed in view of the way China is continuously increasing its power in the Indo-Pacific region. There has been a long-standing dispute over the way China claims the South China Sea and calls it its territory, but other countries in this region like the Philippines, Malaysia say that our border also meets the South China Sea, so we also have rights over it. There has been a long-standing dispute over this. Confronting China's growing military and economic power is also one of the important goals of this forum. China is also concerned that India can increase the strength of this forum by involving other countries and this can prove to be a challenge for China.

India is getting diplomatic support from all over the world after the Pahalgam attack. With Operation Sindoor, Delhi has made it clear to both Islamabad and the world that it will break the proxy war and will not bow down to Pakistan's nuclear blackmail. India has also made it clear to America that it cannot control India in the matter of Pakistan. Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar has openly declared Trump's claims as false while standing in America. This must have made Pakistan realize what power India has in the world.