Perils of India’s G-20 Presidency
On the first of December 2022, Indonesia passed the baton of the presidency of the G-20 to India. For the first time, India will head this premier multilateral group that connects the world’s major developed and emerging economies. India will do its best to project itself on such platforms. In Australia in the first week of January 2023, the Indian External Affairs Minister went on a vile anti-Pakistan tirade.
In a statement, the Pakistan Foreign Office emphatically rejected the baseless and frivolous accusations and put India on the spot for its “brazen involvement in fomenting terrorism on Pakistan’s soil” as well as for its “state-sponsored terrorism” in India-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, adding that its “anti-Pakistan diatribe” could not hide these actions. We should expect more of it from India in the coming weeks and months. India will not spare any opportunity to use influential forums to malign Pakistan. Pakistan should, therefore, remain vigilant and take necessary countermeasures.
There will be around 250 meetings, many at the ministerial level on lead nodal departments within the G-20 countries — like health, finance, agriculture, energy, and trade. The high point of India’s presidency will be the G-20 summit in New Delhi on September 9-10, 2023. The Modi government has cleverly chosen the theme of the year as “One Earth, One Family, One Future”, taken from Sanskrit scriptures, signifying the interconnectedness of different forms of life. Reflecting Hindu nationalism, India’s logo for its G-20 presidency is curiously an image of a lotus, which also happens to be the symbol of Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
G20, the world’s most influential, yet divided bloc, is beset by polycrisis and challenges. International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva warned on January 2, 2023, that the global economy faces “a tough year, tougher than the year we leave behind”, adding that “We expect one-third of the world economy to be in recession.” She cited the simultaneous slowing down of three big economies, namely, the US, the EU, and China as the main reason for this downturn.
In its report World of Worries: Political risks in 2023, Fitch Solutions paints a grim picture by indicating that “the global economy is reeling from three major shocks in quick succession — the global trade war, the Covid-19 pandemic, and the war in Ukraine — which, taken together, have triggered arguably the most economically disruptive period since World War II. Other political and geopolitical risks are also very much at work.” The surging US-China tensions, the prolonged war in Ukraine — which has also increased the bad blood between Russia and the West — the devastating effects of climate disasters, global food and energy insecurity, and the lingering effects of COVID-19 add to the global complexities and pose serious challenges to G-20.
Looking at the situation in India, a serious concern is what India has morphed into under over eight years of BJP rule under Narendra Modi. Driven by the Hindutva doctrine, the BJP has left the democratic spirit in tatters and is driving India into the abyss of fascist tendencies. In India, “Muslims are reminded of being Muslims rather than Indians”. They are treated as a “second-class citizenry”. “To a lesser extent, this happens in the case of Christians as well”. The space for cultural diversity and tolerance is rapidly shrinking.
In the Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the innocent Kashmiri people are being subjected to inhuman atrocities on daily basis. They are denied their basic rights and fundamental freedoms. A brutal ethnic cleansing is taking place and crass efforts are afoot to redraw the demography of Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. India is trying to rob Kashmiris of their religious and cultural identity. Against the bitter history of Indian hostility, its desire for regional hegemony, its quest for great power status, and the impending general elections in mid-2024, the Modi government will use the G20 pedestal to cast Pakistan in a negative light whenever and where ever it can do so.
Pakistan, therefore, needs to remain vigilant and consider undertaking the necessary counter-moves including, among others, the following: First, create an informal ‘Friends of Pakistan’ group of G20 countries, if already not done so, like, Argentina, China, Indonesia, Italy, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and Turkey to remain abreast of major moves in G20 and any malicious initiatives by India. This could be done in at least three places, at Brussels, Geneva, and New York, and be closely monitored in Islamabad. Secondly, use the influence of friendly G20 countries to focus on areas of key importance to developing countries like Pakistan, including assistance in natural disaster relief, material and technical assistance in mitigation and adaptation strategies to deal with the impact of climate change; debt relief and financing for development; market access; transfer of green and futuristic technologies and assistance in social sectors like health and education. Thirdly, a concerted and well-orchestrated campaign should be launched to expose massive and systematic human rights violations being committed by India against innocent Kashmiris, its treatment of religious minorities, its hegemonic policies in the region, and India’s fast slide towards fascist policies. Pakistan must also remain vigilant that India is not allowed to hold any international meeting in the disputed territory of Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) and seek any legitimacy of its illegal and unilateral actions of August 5, 2019.
Lastly, Pakistan must actively engage in constructive and intensive multilateral diplomacy on all forums, and regain our space in important international organizations, such as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO).
