Post-Operation Sindoor, what India must learn from Morocco's Sahara strategy to counter Pak narrative and terror

Time of India

4 days ago

Consistent Message: Sending parliamentary delegations to various countries post-Op Sindoor was a great idea. But India should learn from Morocco and keep pushing its position on Kashmir and Pak terror internationally
On a recent visit to Estonia, a critical country and a frontline state in the Baltic, one had the opportunity to interact with members of the Estonian-Indian parliamentary group, namely Andrei Korobeinik, Vadim Belobrovtsev and Mart Maastik. When asked about India's recent Operation Sindoor in response to Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in Kashmir, the Estonian group had two key points. First, they condemned terror in all its forms and rejected its use to pursue any agenda. Second, they stuck to the position that the Kashmir issue should be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy. One came away with the impression that Estonia – despite being a member of Nato and EU, and increasingly looking to India for trade and defence collaborations – is not fully cognisant of the Indian position on Kashmir for the lack of adequate communication on the issue.
In this respect, GOI's decision in the aftermath of Op Sindoor to send teams of cross-party parliamentarians to different parts of the world to present India's position on Pakistan's sponsorship of terrorism was a great move. The fact is that New Delhi, hitherto, hasn't been able to effectively communicate its Kashmir position or its fight against Pakistan-sponsored terror. In fact, in 2016 when I had interviewed former US ambassador to India, Frank G Wisner, he too had refused to see a direct link between the Pakistani state and terrorists operating from Pakistani soil, only going so far as to say that instability in Pakistan was incubating radical Islamist terror.
Therefore, a robust outreach is needed on India's Kashmir position and anti-terror fight. But for this to be truly successful one needs to be consistent, patient and play the long game. The parliamentary delegations explaining India's position this time is great. But this shouldn't be a one-off. We have to keep reiterating our position and conveying this to other countries for years. And ever country, no matter where they are on the geopolitical pecking order, is important here.
In this regard, we would do well to follow the example of Morocco vis-à-vis the Moroccan Sahara. It will be recalled that this part of the Sahara on the western edge of North Africa was hived off from Morocco by 19th century colonial powers. It was then made a Spanish exclave while the rest of Morocco became a French protectorate. When Morocco regained its full independence in 1956, it vowed to recover the Sahara. This was best exemplified by the speech of Morocco's erstwhile monarch, King Mohammed V, at M'hamid al-Ghizlan in 1958 when he pledged to the Sahrawi tribal chiefs that he would work to recover the Sahara in keeping with Morocco's historical rights.
In 1963, Morocco itself brought the Sahara issue to the UN, asking the international body to recognise the territory as a non-governing territory to be decolonised by Spain. But another event happened in 1963 that would have a bearing on the Sahara issue later on – the Sand War between Morocco and then recently decolonised Algeria. Years later when Spain finally left the Sahara in 1975 – not before partitioning it between Morocco and Mauritania – Algeria propped up a separatist armed movement called the Polisario Front to strategically undermine Morocco. Mauritania gave up its rights to the Sahara in 1979. But Polisario, backed by Algeria, continued its armed struggle. The UN brokered a ceasefire in 1991 to create conditions for a referendum in the Sahara. But the conditions were never met – for example, Polisario refused to conduct a census of the Sahrawi refugees in its Tindouf camps.
In the meantime, the Polisario has been found guilty of embezzlement of funds meant for humanitarian aid for the Sahrawi refugees by the European Anti-Fraud Office and other European entities. Therefore, there are clear parallels here between India's Kashmir issue and the Moroccan Sahara issue. In both cases, an external party is using non-state actors to undermine India and Morocco, respectively.
But how has Morocco responded? It has over the years made its case on the Moroccan Sahara consistently and patiently. It rejoined the African Union in 2017 after having left the body in 1984 over the admission of Polisario's Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic – which till date is not recognised by the UN or the Arab League. It has put the Moroccan Sahara issue front and centre in all its bilateral relationships, making this a Moroccan red line. It even reached out to countries that were once on the opposite end of the ideological spectrum. And finally, in 2020, the US recognised Moroccan sovereignty over the Moroccan Sahara. Israel too has done the same.
France followed suit last year and Spain recently reiterated that it found Morocco's Autonomy Plan for the Sahara within Moroccan sovereignty as the most credible solution to the long festering issue. Add to this numerous countries that have opened their consulates in the Sahara as extensions of their embassies in Rabat.
The lesson here is that a consistent approach pays off. India needs to do something similar to make its case on Kashmir and Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. In this regard, sending a parliamentary delegation to Morocco as part of post-Op Sindoor efforts would have been prudent. Nonetheless, the lessons from Rabat will certainly be helpful for New Delhi.
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