Latest news with #NityaChakraborty
Arabian Post
3 days ago
- Politics
- Arabian Post
Was Israeli Strike Against Iran A Part Of Donald Trump's Game Plan?
By Nitya Chakraborty Israeli missile strikes against Teheran and Iran's counter offensive entered its fifth day on June 17 Tuesday with U.S. President Donald Trump dramatically cutting short his stay in Canada for G-7 meeting for Washington indicating that he would be busy in peace moves in the next few hours for organizing a ceasefire between Israel and Iran. French President Emanuel Macron also informed at the summit venue that Iran sought Trump's assistance for ending the war. If we look at the chronology of the developments since the early morning of June 13, we will see that the entire course from the beginning of the sudden Israeli strikes to the dramatic exit of Trump from G-7 meeting, was a part of a stage managed event prepared by Trump-Netanyahu duo to achieve the Trump objective of Iran coming to the next round of US-Iran nuclear talks with bended knees with virtually little bargaining power. Trump wants to emerge as a peace maker by bringing victorious Netanyahu and shattered Iranian leaders in the negotiating table. The sixth round of talks on Iran's nuclear programme was scheduled for June 15, Sunday in Oman. Trump wanted to precipitate the deal on his own terms, but he did not get positive signal. The Iranians with their nuclear programme monitored by some top scientists, were not in a mood to surrender to the US President's diktat. They were getting ready for hard bargaining which Trump could not tolerate. The missile strikes by Israel began two days before the scheduled meeting. In the last four days, the nuclear facilities have been damaged in a serious manner, nine top scientists have been killed. With Israel guaranteeing high tech protection to Tel Aviv's air defences, the Iranian missiles could not damage much. It was an uneven war between Israel and Iran in terms of missile quality and technology. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was candid when he said that the Israeli objective was to eliminate any Iranian threat to Israel. He even gave a call to Iranians to rise in revolt. In fact, the Israeli defence forces are still targeting Iran's supreme head Ali Khamenei who has been shifted to a secret shelter by the Iranian authorities fearing attack on him. Trump himself said that Israel had a plan to kill Khamenei, but he rebuffed that. This was a way of making it clear that he was not involved if by any chance the Iranian supreme leader got killed. Interestingly, Israel gave advance information to the US President after attack, after that only Trump said that it was Israel's war against Iran, the US had nothing to do with it. Days before, the US government warned its citizens in Israel and asked the Tel Aviv and Jerusalem embassies to be careful in the next few days and look for shelters. An analysis by Zaineb Riduoa for the Washington-based Hudson Institute says that , Israel prepared for its June 13 operation over years of sustained intelligence preparation, real-time intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), and deep infiltration. Israeli military planners achieved full-spectrum disruption by dismantling and infiltrating Iran's command and control networks, severing high-level communications, and injecting uncertainty into the regime's decision-making processes. As our IPA analyst Asad Mirza mentioned in his piece on June 16, by the time Tehran could react, the damage was already done. Its upper command was wiped out, and its defensive systems were disabled. Crucially, Israel did not rely on cross-border operations. It had pre-positioned remote-activated strike platforms inside Iran and deployed them with surgical precision. This shows its preparations and depth of its infiltration of the Iranian security apparatus. Israel combined a decapitation strike with cognitive disruption. The psychological warfare element – that the strike had come from Iranian soil – amplified the attack's kinetic effects, leaving Tehran paralysed. Unable to determine whether it had been infiltrated or outmanoeuvred, the regime's ability to respond took time to recover and initiate countermeasures. But these were inadequate to penetrate the highly sophisticated air defence system to protect Tel Aviv. In the last 48 hours, there have been intensive discussions about the possible US role in Israeli attacks. In US media, the right wing channels and podcasts have been showing how the Israeli defence forces have shattered the defence system of Iran and how Teheran has got isolated. Among the conservative whites, there is a sort of pleasure at the humiliation of a Muslim nation. Experts mention that the Trump-Netanyahu duo are planning for a regime change though officially, the US state secretary Marco Rubio has ruled that out. The leaders at G-7 however in a signed statement supported Israel's right to self defence and put the blame on Iran for bringing instability in Middle East. The G-7 leaders ruled out regime change as a solution in Iran but their identification with Israeli attack against Iran calling it right of self defence, makes it apparent that despite some high sounding liberal sentiments occasionally, they will go with Trump on Iran. Trump earlier wrote a post in his media platform saying that he had given Iran many chances to reach a nuclear deal with USA' He even said that he warned Iranian leadership that they are facing an attack that's much worse than anything they could imagine. What more is needed to prove that Trump and Netanyahu was in collusion? (IPA Service)
Arabian Post
7 days ago
- Politics
- Arabian Post
India Abstaining During Voting On UN Resolution For Ceasefire In Gaza Is The Lowest Point Of Diplomacy
By Nitya Chakraborty On Thursday June 12, Indian diplomacy under the Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached its lowest ebb when India abstained in the United Nations General Assembly from a vote on a resolution demanding an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza. The 193 member UN general assembly passed the resolution overwhelmingly with 149 countries in favour, 12 against and 19 countries including India, once the real leader of the global South. India did not support this resolution at a time when Israel is engaged in genocide in Gaza and other areas of Palestine killing even the hungry and sick people who were going for food and medicines to the aid centres. Even the G-7 members excepting the U.S. have strongly spoken against the latest killings by Israel and they all excepting USA voted for the resolution. But India did not, it abstained. The 19 countries who abstained included apart from India, countries like Albania, Cameroon, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Malawi, Panama, South Sudan and Togo. These countries are not significant players in UN. All the leading members of the Global South including BRICS and SCO voted in favour of the resolution. USA and Israel, as usual, voted against the resolution. The Indian abstention from voting in such a critical situation when Israel is in its most aggressive form even without listening to the U.S. President Donald Trump, has triggered a big distrust among the leading members of the developing countries as also the two big powers Russia and China. The next summit of BRICS will be taking place in July this year in Brazil. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be attending that. Israel's action including its attacks against Iran on June 13 will also be on the agenda. How Can Indian Prime Minister face the other members of the BRICS at the summit on the issue of Israel and Gaza? In the explanation of vote on the resolution titled 'Protection of civilians and upholding legal and humanitarian obligations', India's permanent representative to the UN, ambassador Parvathaneni Harish said the resolution comes against the backdrop of worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza.. He then said India is deeply concerned at the deepening humanitarian crisis and condemns the loss of civilian lives but a joint effort should be directed towards bringing the two sides closer. So, India would abstain from the resolution. What an argument under the new normal Modi doctrine? Everyone knows what is the latest attitude of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to any bilateral talks? The immediate need is to save the lives of Gaza people and organize humanitarian aid for sick and hungry. The ceasefire is imperative for that. 149 countries out of the total of 193 members supported the resolution on the basis of this understanding. They wanted to stop the killings with immediate effect. The resolution demanded that Israel, the 'occupying power', immediately end the blockade, open all border crossings and ensure that aid reaches the Palestinian civilian population throughout the Gaza Strip immediately and at scale, in line with its obligations under peace international law and humanitarian principles. It seems that the Narendra Modi government has objection to the term 'occupying power' given to Israel. Even France, Britain are agreeing to this resolution, why not India? The resolution demanded that the parties fully, unconditionally and without delay implement all the provisions of Security Council resolution of June 2024, including an immediate ceasefire, the release of hostages, the return of the remains of hostages who have been killed, the exchange of Palestinian prisoners, the return of Palestinian civilians to their homes and neighbourhoods in the Gaza Strip and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip. The UNGA vote came after the 15-nation Security Council failed to adopt a similar resolution last week after the sole veto by permanent member the United States. For the active members like South Africa and Brazil, there was no other way but to organize a fresh resolution for voting in the UN general assembly where the resolution is decided by voting and no veto power is allowed. On Thursday, the draft resolution was moved by Spain which is a member of the European Union. Prime Minister Sanchez belongs to the socialist part of the coalition and Deputy Prime Minister is Yolanda Diaz, a prominent leader of the Communist Party of Spain.. Spain could organize most members of the European Union in favour of the Resolution. The latest Israeli attack on Iran on Friday and the possibility of the war spreading with serious implications for the Middle East as also global peace poses another challenge to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The PM has cultivated special relations with Israel while Iran is very crucial from India's geopolitical strategy. It will be another big challenge to PM's diplomatic acumen. (IPA Service)
Arabian Post
06-06-2025
- Politics
- Arabian Post
How Post Operation Sindoor Modi Doctrine Stifling India's Diplomatic Outreach?
By Nitya Chakraborty 26 days have passed since the temporary truce in the limited four day war between India and Pakistan taking effect on May 10 this year. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been talking of his three point doctrine since then, the most important of which is no dialogue with Pakistan unless the ruling regime of Islamabad shuns terrorism. Pakistan Prime Minister on the other hand is claiming as usual that his government had no role in the Pahalgam massacre of April 22, Pakistan strongly believes in fight against terrorism. Pakistan is ready for bilateral talks to discuss all the pending issues including terror. In this backdrop, fierce campaign has been launched by both India and Pakistan to influence the views of the foreign countries including the permanent and non-permanent members of the United Nations. Seven parliamentary delegations from India are on a visit to 33 nations in their diplomatic outreach. Two delegations have already returned. Congress Lok Sabha member Shashi Tharoor is still staying in the US at the head of the delegation to apprise both the U.S. government officials and the UN members the Indian viewpoint why Pakistan is the fountainhead of terrorist actions on Indian soil and why it is not possible to have any bilateral dialogue with Pakistan. Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has himself visited four countries so far as a part of his government's global outreach. Simultaneously a high powered delegation led by former Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is in USA talking to the Washington administration and the UN members. The South Asian diaspora in USA is betting for a Bilawal-Tharoor debate on the current India Pak tensions. Bilawal in his press meet has talked of a bilateral meet between India and Pakistan to discuss the issues on the lines of Pakistan PM's position. Tharoor has to focus only on terror and Pak links to terror. He can not touch the issue of any bilateral dialogue at the moment as per post Operation Sindoor Modi doctrine. Herein lies India's dilemma of positive global diplomatic outreach. So far, the feedback from the Parliamentary delegations talks abroad and the Indian embassies own efforts for outreach is this – all foreign leaders and the diplomats in the course of discussions are mentioning two things. First they are all with India in its fight against terror. They all favour India's fight against terrorists based in Pakistan. But they do not like any war between the two nuclear powers on this issue. They want bilateral talks if India does not agree for a mediator. Even Russian foreign minister has mentioned this, though Russia's statement was strongest in support of India's actions. Thus in the perception battle or more specifically in information war, Pakistan is getting some advantage as of now vis a vis India. Left to the external affairs ministry officials, they could have done much better job than the visiting Parliamentary delegations but their hands are tied. Modi's doctrine has stifled their flexibility. The Washington based Indian officials are seeing how the wavelength they established with the White House in the last few years, are crumbling before their own eyes due to the intervention of the PMO, the Modi doctrine and the interference by the Overseas Friends of BJP in USA and the Hindu organisations close to Narendra Modi. These officers are engaged in fire fighting operations. Now let us look at some upcoming events which show how challenging will be India's task in the coming two months in the arena of global diplomacy. First, India has not been invited to the G-7 summit at Alberta in Canada scheduled from June 15 to June 17. In the last five years, our Prime Minister made every effort to make himself visible among the World's top leaders. Last year at the G-7 summit in Italy, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni praised the Indian PM belonging to their own far right clan. PM was expecting an invitation till a week back, but it has not been sent and all indications are that it will not be sent by the Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. The reason might be related to the possibility of pro- Khalistani demonstrations, but if the new Liberal Party PM wanted, he could have invited the Indian PM by making adequate arrangements for maintaining law and order. In such summits, always some kind of threat is there from the dissidents, but the summits take place after arranging full security preparations. More importantly, though Canada is the host country, other member countries did not bother to request the PM Mark Carney to invite India as India has been a long standing participant, The G-7 members are USA, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK and Canada. The other non members invited are Australia, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa and Ukraine. Narendra Modi enjoyed all the summits he attended giving the impression as if he belonged to one of those rich nations. But alas — in 2025 after India's unambiguous victory claimed by Modi against Pakistan in four day conflict, Indian Prime Minister has been shunned out of a crucial global summit. More trouble for Narendra Modi awaits in the month of July. This month Pakistan will take over as the President of the UN Security Council as per the rotation. The UNSC has five permanent members — USA, Russia, China, France and UK. There are ten non-permanent members now — Algeria, Denmark, Greece, Guyana, Pakistan, Panama, South Korea, Sierra Leone, Slovenia and Somalia. Pakistan will take over as the UNSC President in July as per norms. The UNSC President has powers to set agenda. Naturally, it is expected that Pakistan will take full advantage of its presidency to include discussion on Kashmir in the UNSC agenda. Once it is proposed by the President, this will have to be discussed in the context of India- Pakistan relations. This is a big challenge to India. Indian foreign ministry will have to make all preparations to meet Pakistan's proposed salvo. The UNSC members, both permanent and non-permanent have to be properly briefed. Pakistan is sure to make full use of July presidency of UNSC to further its cause of inernationalising the Kashmir situation again. Indian foreign ministry has to come out of the purview of Modi doctrine if it wants to effectively meet the Pak onslaught. Apart in July itself, BRICS summit is scheduled in Brazil on July 6 and 7 this year. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been invited as one of the founding members. He is expected to attend it. The BRICS members are Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — the initial members. Now the expanded BRICS includes another five countries Indonesia, Iran, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Chinese President Xi Jinping is sure to attend it. It is to be seen whether President Putin attends since there is a warrant of International Criminal Court, so Putin is avoiding visits to the ICC member countries. This year, if Narendra Modi attends the BRICS summit, he will be attending with a demoted stature. His image as a defender of global South has got damaged due to India's identification with the US strategy in Asia Pacific and India's distancing itself from the geo political positions of BRICS. The USA does not like India's pro-active position in BRICS. In fact, President Trump is in a running battle with the Presidents of South Africa and Brazil. So what stand Narendra Modi will be taking at the BRICS summit, that assumes significance. The hard reality is that Prime Minister may go on campaigning in favour of his doctrine and making efforts to rouse nationalist passions against Pakistan in public meetings, but global diplomacy is a hard ball. Indian officials have to defend the government's position every single day. That has been a tough task with limited flexibility. Prime Minister's present new doctrine towards Pakistan needs some finetuning to adapt to the political mood of the global community. The battle against Pakistan and terror is long drawn. It needs holistic strategy and not one time solution. (IPA Service)
Arabian Post
31-05-2025
- Politics
- Arabian Post
Mamata Is Right – PM Is Using Operation Sindoor To Further BJP's Interests
By Nitya Chakraborty West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee was right when she said on Thursday replying to the Prime Minister's vicious attacks against her and her government that Narendra Modi was making use of the Operation Sindoor to achieve cheap political gains for the BJP in the coming assembly polls in the state in early 2026. This was the first such unambiguous attack against the partisan politics of the Prime Minister who has been trying to convert the success of the Indian army against Pakistan through Operation Sindoor into political gains for the BJP through his election oriented speeches since May 10 when the India-Pakistan truce took place. In the last twenty days, since May 10, the opposition parties extended in full their cooperation to the union government led by Narendra Modi and even took part in the all party Parliamentary delegations sent by the Prime Minister to the foreign countries to explain the Indian position. The PM talked of the need for national unity at this hour, every party responded. Instead of reciprocating that gesture, the Prime Minister, the leader of the 142 crore people of India used his public meetings in the last two weeks to denigrate the opposition and involving the Operation Sindoor with the BJP's other operation like Operation Bengal. Just imagine, in the public meeting held at Alipurduar in West Bengal on Thursday afternoon, the state BJP president Sukanta Majumdar told the rally in the presence of the Prime Minister that like Operation Sindoor , Operation Bengal would be organized to throw out the TMC government in the Bay of Bengal waters. The BJP boss has every right to talk about throwing out the TMC government in a political rally, but he was mixing Operation Sindoor the programme of united India with the partisan objective of the BJP in Bengal. That too in the presence of Narendra Modi, the so called symbol of national unity. The opposition leaders must have realized by now that the Prime Minister is playing his political game by saying that Operation Sindoor is on pause and any time, it could commence again. This is a military strategy and not to be announced in public rallies. The PM wants this war fever to continue in the country so that the BJP can have political capital in the coming elections in Bihar followed by the polls in other states Bengal, Kerala, Assam, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. This is amply clear from the way his road shows have been organized in Bihar and Gujarat in the recent days. Mamata was correct when she replied to the Prime Minister two hours after his public meeting on Thursday 'What Modiji said today, we are not only shocked but also very sad to hear the voice of the prime minister when all the opposition (leaders) are representing the country to the world, they are taking the bold decision to protect the country's interest, national interest. We will protect the country because it is our motherland. But is it the time for the prime minister of the country, Narendra Modi, and in his presence, his minister, to say that they will do Operation Bengal, like Operation Sindoor? I challenge them. If they have guts, go into elections tomorrow, we are ready and Bengal is ready to accept your challenge,' she said. Such a rebuff from a senior opposition leader to the Prime Minister was needed because Narendra Modi was going the wholehog against the opposition taking advantage of the docility of the INDIA Bloc constituents in view of the present period of India-Pak tensions. The opposition has given enough leeway to the Prime Minister but he has not honoured that. It is time the opposition starts functioning normally strongly demanding the immediate convening of special session of Parliament to discuss the situation and seek explanations on many vital issues which till now remain answered. Just as Mamata posed the question to the PM why the terrorists who carried out Pahalgam massacre on April 22 have not yet been nabbed. Yet. Or why Prime Minister is silent on continuous claim of Trump and other U.S. officials that Trump used trade threat to India and Pakistan to agree to ceasefire. It was meant more to India as India was winning on May 10 morning. What did the US vice president J D Vance tell the Prime Minister on May 9? Did he convey the threat given by Trump? The US trade department said the same thing in court. They must have record. PM has to categorically rebut that by coming out with his own statement. Why is he keeping silent and let others speak? These are the issues to be put to the government now.. Since the PM has crossed lakshmanrekha on keeping the national unity including the opposition parties, the India Bloc has no moral responsibility now to play by the rules set by the Prime Minister. Let them follow Mamata. She has set the agenda. It is time, the India Bloc parties discuss and start behaving as the real opposition. Enough is enough. (IPA Service)
Arabian Post
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Arabian Post
Pakistan-China Ties Consolidate Further During Visit Of Deputy Pm Ishaq Dar
By Nitya Chakraborty The four day visit of the Pakistan Deputy Prime Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar to China ended on Wednesday May 21 with top Chinese leaders assuring Dar that 'as an ironclad friend, China, as always, firmly support Pakistan in safeguarding its national sovereignty and territorial integrity, support Pakistan in exploring a development path suited to its national conditions, support Pakistan in resolutely combating terrorism and support Pakistan in playing a greater role in international and regional affairs'. There can not be any unequivocal statement more than this ten days after the India-Pakistan limited war beginning early hours of May 7 ended on May 10 at 5 PM what was termed as only pause by the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as against full fledged ceasefire claimed by the U.S. President Donald Trump who also boasted in his social media that at his instance, the U.S. officials organized the ceasefire by talking to the heads of both the governments. ADVERTISEMENT The outcome of the Pakistan Deputy PM's talks in Beijing should cause worry to the Indian officials of PMO and the foreign ministry as the Chinese tone is combative and it is a sort of carte blanche to Pakistan to pursue its policy of dealing with its current adversary India. China is a permanent member of the Security Council and its backing of Pakistan against India in regional affairs, means that India will confront a big wall when its outreach delegation visits United Nations and talks to the five permanent members of the Security Council, ten non permanent members and some other members who have substantial voices on global issues. Only on May 20, the Indian foreign ministry briefed three outreach delegations. As per media reports, the official briefing mentioned that China's attitude was found to be positive on the current India-Pak conflict. The foreign ministry is living in their own world of make believe rather than hard ground reality. The same day, the foreign ministry briefing on outreach was taking place in New Delhi, the Chinese foreign minister Wang assured the Pakistani foreign minister and Deputy PM Ishaq Dar in Beijing that China would support Pakistan in safeguarding its national sovereignty and territorial integrity. How can the foreign ministry mention that Chinese attitude was found to be positive? The Indian outreach delegations numbering seven are visiting 33 countries apart from Brussels, the headquarter of European Union. The first Indian delegation left on May 21 for visit to Japan, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia and Singapore. Prime Minister Narendra Modi may have full confidence in his new doctrine, but his position on no dialogue with Pakistan at the moment may not elicit favourable response from most of the countries. The nations in general strongly supported India in its call for terror camps destruction in Pakistan to root out terrorism, but they strongly disfavour any further India-Pakistan confrontation again. They want dialogue at the highest level of the two governments to lessen the ongoing tensions. For instance, the outreach delegation led by the controversial Shashi Tharoor will be visiting UN, USA and the adjoining countries soon.. The U.S. has formally made its position clear that they consider the May 10 decision as a sort of full-fledged ceasefire and as a follow up, they want early India-Pakistan meeting to start the process of negotiations for lessening tensions. The region has a complex history and any negotiation will be time consuming. But the process has to start. Can Shashi Tharoor and his team members succeed through their meetings in changing this approach of the U.S., especially where the President Donald Trump is personally involved? The hard fact is that Prime Minister Narendra Modi through his 'new normal' doctrine has limited the range of Indian flexibility in global diplomacy. Pakistan has strong allies in China and OIC members. China's support is a big win for Pakistan. Who are with India now? With USA now putting India and Pakistan at same level and Trump fully positioned against his good friend Narendra Modi's new doctrine, there are a very few nations on whom India can depend for support on the basis of the PM's doctrine. The QUAD members will extend all support to their member India for fighting terrorism but that does not mean supporting the policy of confrontation with its neighbour and avoiding any dialogue. ADVERTISEMENT The present BJP government has messed up its relations with its long trusted friend Russia. Still Russia is supporting India to a great extent but President Putin is also in favour of dialogue between the two governments to avoid any future military conflict. In South Asia and South East Asia, every country is in favour of a dialogue between the two governments to improve India-Pakistan relations. India foreign minister Dr. S Jaishankar may go giving his erudite elaboration of Modi doctrine in global diplomatic arena, but it is not getting the due response. Anti-terror part is okay but nobody opts for the policy of another confrontation after ceasefire. China has currently a strong economic and business reason to back Pakistan. Pakistan has been a milestone on China's Belt-and-Road Initiative (BRI) since 2015. China has invested more than $46 billion in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), via Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). CPEC is opposed by India but Pakistan is working for it with full gusto. CPEC connects the Gwadar Port in Pakistan's Baluchistan and Karachi in Sindh by overland routes with China's Xinjiang province. Gwadar is a little over 100 miles from the strategically important Iranian port of Chabahar. Both China and Pakistan are aware of its strategic importance. Chinese funds have helped in improving Pak infrastructure in a big way. India is monitoring the progress but it can not play any role. China has already upgraded the CPEC 2. The work is already in progress covering new infra projects along wide areas of Pakistan. China has its national interest in protecting its huge investment in Pakistan. It can not allow its friendly country to be devastated by India. China means business just as Trump does. Pakistan will continue to get China's economic and political support against India in an increased manner in the coming days. There are doubts whether India can mobilise that kind of support from USA and its QUAD members in case of another India-Pak confrontation. (IPA Service)
