Kashmir, Elephant and Dragon

Express Tribune

25-03-2025

The writer is a PhD scholar of Semiotics and Philosophy of Communication at Charles University Prague. Email her at [e-mail]
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India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, speaking at the Raisina Dialogue held in New Delhi recently, rejected the existing world order and called for a new one.
India's loud demand for a new international order should be reviewed through the evolving dynamics of Sino-Indian relations. On March 17, 2025, China welcomed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statement that India and China had achieved "normalcy" at the border and that "differences don't become disputes".
Since 2016, India has used the Raisina Dialogue platform for narrative experimentation. Jaishankar's demand for a new world order at this forum indicates that India plans to balance relations between the US and China — while maximising benefits from this transitional stage and positioning itself for advantages from the existing world order as well as the emerging one. In rejecting the old order, New Delhi has also rejected the UNSC and its Kashmir resolution.
Indian state-sponsored media suggests that the Indo-Sino relations have progressed, and they have gone from regional adversaries to regional partners. It is evident that India has accepted China's actions at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) over the past five years.
The Indian media reflects this assumption with catchphrases like "No hard feelings" and "Beginning of a new era of Indo-Sino relations". New Delhi has adopted a workable strategy that represents this acceptance, stating that "Elephant and Dragon would overcome their disputes, and both are already working to redefine the contour of their relationship."
While mending ties with China, India is swiftly eliminating notions of any remnant issues at the LAC while portraying the Line of Control (LoC) between Pakistan and India as a regional dispute and threat to peace.
Jaishankar, at the Raisina Dialogue, stated that the Kashmir issue is "the longest standing illegal occupation" of the territory by another country [Pakistan].
The Indian external affairs minister is right about the Kashmir issue being long endured, but not about Pakistan's role in it. It is rather India that has occupied Kashmir. By placing the Kashmir issue at centre stage and employing ideological media to manufacture consent, India has strategically spun the narrative about Kashmir over time. Academics and practitioners of Philosophy of Communications have been alerting Pakistan regarding India's placement of Azad Kashmir in the middle of the issue, with India media practitioners, academics and narrative builders working collectively to reshape the story.
Jaishankar, in the same speech, also criticised the United Nations for what he called making the Kashmir "invasion" a "dispute". Ironically, being a professional diplomat, he is fully aware of India's visit to UNSC for the Kashmir resolution as well as the official status of Kashmir regarding it. How, then, could he make statements completely detached from historical reality? I believe this naivety is the core of the new Indian narrative which is bound to amplify so people remain uninformed about the Kashmir issue.
However, there is a catch. Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan are all partners in China's belt and Road Initiative (BRI), whereas India has refused to join it — citing objection to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) "passing through a disputed region". This opposition itself reflects India's acknowledgement that Kashmir is a disputed territory.
The BRI, encompassing 149 countries as of February 2025, is undermining India's regional hegemony. For example, Bangladesh is set to receive $26 billion for BRI projects and an additional $14 billion for joint ventures with China, amounting to a $40 billion economic package.
Indian foreign affairs experts say that President Trump of the US no longer requires India as a special Indo-Pacific ally as his strategy now involves tariff weapons instead of physical partners.
Some analysts believe that Modi was "turned away" during his recent US visit, with Trump concluding that India lacks the capability to counter China effectively, thus eliminating the need to take on India as an Indo-Pacific ally. Nonetheless, Modi's so-called diplomatic victory with Trump has significantly altered India's foreign policy, leaving Russia in an uncertain position.
Recent global events have taught us one undeniable truth: narrative manipulation is practically incapable of changing hard geopolitical realities - such as the hypothetical strategic defeat of Russia and the ongoing Gaza genocide. Syndicated propaganda campaigns can buy time, but they have no capacity to change the larger facts. India by no means can sway away from the reality of its illegal occupation of Kashmir, as well as the brutal realities of mass murders, mass rapes and human rights violations in the occupied region.
Moreover, India's aspirations for a rapprochement with China may ultimately face a major roadblock — its occupation of Kashmir. This issue could prove to be a deal-breaker, and no amount of fabrication and cosmetic treatment of reality could turn the tide in India's favour.