Pakistan's Kashmir tactics fail to find traction with global powers

NEW DELHI: Pakistan's third attempt to drag major world powers into the Kashmir issue seems to have borne little fruit. A day after Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif wrote to the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, their reactions seem to have done little to stem Islamabad's increasing isolation from the international community.

That Sharif's letter to the permanent five has won Pakistan almost no sympathy was apparent from the statements issued by Russia and France on the Uri terror attack, that either directly named Pakistan or Pakistan-based terrorist organizations.

Pakistan's efforts to rope in nominal ally US too failed. A US delegation led by Secretary of State John Kerry displayed complete disinterest in Pakistan's Kashmir push during a meeting with Sharif in New York, and instead read the riot act to Pakistan on terrorism.

Pakistan's 'all-weather friend' China too has had to take line of blanket opposition to terrorism.

Sharif's letter was the third bid by Pakistan to bring the major world powers into the Kashmir issue. Its bid to capitalize on the ongoing unrest and internationalize the Kashmir issue began with a round of meetings Sartaj Aziz, foreign affairs adviser to the Pakistan PM, with ambassadors of European Union and the permanent five towards the end of August.

Sharif had followed this up by naming 22 parliamentarians who had been tasked with travelling to various international forums and raise the Kashmir issue.

Pakistan's efforts have revolved around getting the international community to intervene in the Kashmir issue. Islamabad has also appealed to the global powers to back its call for a plebiscite in Kashmir on whether to join India or Pakistan, and has raised attention to a 1948 resolution of the UNSC to this effect.

However, Pakistan's call for a plebiscite is bound to fail. It has for decades refused to comply with the first recommendation of the resolution and prerequisite for the plebiscite - the withdrawal of all Pakistani troops and citizens from Jammu and Kashmir.