Will a Diplomatic Win Do?

On Thursday, India claimed a diplomatic victory over Pakistan at the United tions amid swiftly deteriorating bilateral relations following the Uri killings of 18 Indian soldiers. Speaking at the UN headquarters in New York, India’s Exterl Affairs Ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup told reporters that India was “sensitizing the world” about how Pakistan was sponsoring terrorism. “Our actions speak for themselves, and you can see our actions are delivering results,” he said, a day after Pakistan Prime Minister waz Sharif aggressively raised the Kashmir issue in his speech at the UN General Assembly. According to Swarup, most countries have condemned Sunday’s terror attack at Uri near the Line of Control (LoC)—the de facto border between India and Pakistan in Jammu & Kashmir. Swarup claims that no other country at the UN spoke on the subject of Jammu & Kashmir—a subject to which waz Sharif devoted 80 per cent of his time. On the other hand, virtually every country referred to terrorism as the main threat to intertiol peace and security. There is very little point in dwelling on what Pakistan is talking about or what other countries are saying about the aggrieved country. Everyone is trying to be nice to India. What will really count in the comity of tions is how India has retaliated to what Pakistan did to the armed forces of India last Sunday at Uri and earlier this year at Pathankot. What will the world think of India that has to take two attacks on its armed forces personnel by Pakistan lying down and just talk about diplomatic brownie points? What is this so-called diplomatic victory worth in the face of India’s iction? Are we working towards some kind of a political  ‘negative capability’?