If our Prime Minister Narendra Modi had personal talks with Chinese leader Xi Chin Fing and Pakistan’s leader Shahbaz Sharif at the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization held in Samarkand, it would have been considered a big success, but with the leaders of Uzbek, Iran, Russia and Turkey. Their meetings were very important. Now India will also chair this organization this year. As the Speaker, he will now have to speak directly to other member states as well as China and Pakistan.
The main objective of this organization is to prevent terrorist incidents. Almost all its countries are plagued by terrorism but the truth is that this organization has passed many resolutions against terrorism but till date no concrete steps have been taken. Despite this, the biggest advantage of the summits of this organization is that through this the bilateral relations of its member-states are strengthened.
For example, Modi’s meeting with Turkish President Rajab Tayyip Erdoan assumes special significance as he used harsh words against India in the United Nations and Pakistan Parliament on the Kashmir issue.
In this meeting, there was talk on increasing trade etc. between the two countries. Similarly, in the meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, the growing intimacy of India-Russia relations was discussed fiercely. Putin wished Modi a happy birthday in advance. Modi advocated ending the Russo-Ukraine war. Similarly, Modi also met Iran’s President Ibrahim Raisi for the first time. Two
The nurses talked about the progress of the port of Chabahar. There was also talk about peace-building in Afghanistan between the two. The two leaders also talked about making the movement and transport easier and more accessible between the nations of Central and South Asia. In his speech, Modi made the leaders of this conference aware of India’s economic achievements and also mentioned about the help given by India to the neighboring countries in trouble.
But it is surprising that this organization has shown no resolve to help Pakistan trapped in the horrific destruction. That too when Shahbaz Sharif openly described his plight. Chinese leader Xi Jinping congratulated India on becoming the president, but India distanced itself from the joint appreciation of the Chinese Silk Road.
It is worth mentioning here that America’s attitude towards Shanghai Cooperation Organization is not friendly and its relations with countries like Russia, China and Iran are very tense, despite this America has not raised any objection towards India. India is an important middle-way nation among the anti-American nations.
This will be considered a success of Indian foreign policy. This is something beyond non-alignment. I call this factionalism. It can be called multi-alignment rather than non-alignment. I have also called it the policy of equidistance rather than equanimity.
