“Just wake up and smell the coffee! 370 is History!” brought a whiff to SCO: Sandeep Dikshit /Rashmi Talwar/ Greater Jammu

DAY-2

SCO GOA 2023

“Just wake up and smell the coffee! 370 is history” brought a whiff of morning beverage to SCO: Sandeep Dikshit Sn Indian Journalist  

Trade in local currencies and Corpus fund for SCO, other takeaways

Rashmi Talwar

AMRITSAR 5^h May 2023—

When Shesh Paul Vaid former Director General J&K Police tweeted –“Encounter continues in #Rajouri while terrorist organization PAFF took responsibility for the attack earlier today. Duplicity of Pakistan at its best, where we have #BilawalBhutto in Goa unashamedly talking diplomacy while terrorists from his country are ambushing Indian soldiers”, it amplified the emotions of India during the ongoing Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) at Goa.

People’s Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF) militant organization is actively engaged in the insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir. PAFF was established in year of the Covid19 virus in 2020 by Jaish-e-Mohammad / Lashkar-e-Toiba, two Pakistan-based Jihadist groups.

Sn Indian Journalist on diplomatic affairs Sandeep Dikshit covering the SCO Goa for The Tribune on the second leg of the event while talking about his impressions stated –“While indirect arrows were exchanged against each other by FMs of India and Pakistan Dr Subramanyam Jaishankar and Bilawal Zardari Bhutto, following the Rajouri attack, the exchange was not face to face, but ‘veiled swipes’ as Suhasini Haider Diplomatic Affairs Indian Editor with The Hindu, puts it.

Dikshit says the Indian FM firmly brushed aside the query regarding JK’s position within India –“To a question of Abrogation of article 370 from J&K – Indian FM famously said –“Just wake up and smell the coffee! 370 is history and  the sooner people realize the better it is!” I think it brought a whiff of morning beverage in the diplomatic roomful, Dikshit laughed.

The Tribune journalist said the scathing attack on Pakistan by Dr S Jaishankar when he said, As a promoter, justifier, and spokesperson of terrorism industry-the mainstay of Pakistan his position was called out and countered at SCO.  “Victims of terrorism do not sit with perpetrators of terrorism to discuss terrorism, victims of terrorism defend, counter call it out and delegitimize it that is what India is doing” was in response to the quotes that Bhutto Zardari gave to TV channels including BBC and Rajdeep Sardesai and others.

It seemed the power-play for Indian audiences came from three basic emerging pointers – first, the IED blast killing five Indian Jawans in Rajouri coinciding with the second leg of SCO today. Second, is the Karnataka election and third is Pak FM Bilawal interview where he rants about –the abrogation of article 370 in Kashmir, the holding of G20 Sessions in J&K, and Jadhav who he alleged had spied for India”.

India’s strength also was visible when the Indian FM rejected the China corridor, as an aside saying –“Connectivity is good for progress but it cannot violate territorial integrity and sovereignty of states. Saying as part and parcel of India G20 JK meetings are natural as they were to the rest of the Indian states.

Another set of significant takeaways from the SCO was the collective will for local currencies for International trade partners, which obviously was an attempt to erode the growing exchange rate of the US dollar and undermine its value. Another was to endorse English as the official language of communication within the SCO, making working groups like startups, and innovations by youth. Also included was the need for modernization and expansion of SCO with new entries including Iran and Belarus.

As many as 10 member states were still sitting on the fence waiting for entry into the SCO.  There was also a significant proposal to take four countries secular in nature as dialogue partners including Bangladesh and Maldives; setting a Corpus Fund for the SCO organization. These takeaways meet the common and mutual national interests of all participating countries.

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