President Donald J. Trump of the United States may have given policymakers in the Lutyens Zone of New Delhi occasional moments of anxiety, but overall he has ensured that the positive momentum of India-US relations that was begun by President George W. Bush and continued during his second (Hillary-less) term by President Barack Obama has moved forward. It had been hoped by many that the 45th President of the US would have been the chief guest at the 2019 Republic Day parade along Rajpath, and that Vice-President Mike Pence would come to India and elaborate on the revolutionary Indo-Pacific strategy that is the signature change in geostrategic policy in the 21st century as of now. Neither visit has taken place yet, but it may confidently be expected that both will before long be welcome guests not only in Delhi but cities such as Kolkata and Kochi as well. In the ongoing War on Terror that our nation is facing as a consequence of the machinations of GHQ Rawalpindi, the US under President Trump has been a stalwart ally. Now, the bid by Washington to put through a formal sanctioning of the China-protected GHQ terrorist Masood Azhar deserves both attention and praise. This is clearly a measure that has the imprimatur of President Trump together with Vice-President Pence, and will warm the hearts of well over a billion citizens of India who have for four decades suffered the bloodshed and mayhem of Pakistan-sponsored terror groups. The A.B. Vajpayee government committed a fatal error when it allowed the Indian Airlines Airbus aircraft that had been hijacked in Kathmandu by Masood Azhar’s brother with the help of Pakistani diplomats stationed in Nepal to exit Indian skies. The way in which the authorities failed to stop the aircraft from taking off from Amritsar, where the pilot had bravely landed it, was a shameful page in the history of the country. Even worse was the abject surrender to the demands of the terrorists, including the release and transportation by a special flight of terrorists who had been captured and jailed in India, including Masood Azhar. The blowhard response of the Vajpayee government even to a provocation as grave as the attempt to assassinate MPs in the very precincts of Parliament gave confidence to GHQ that it could commit atrocity upon atrocity and yet be given a free pass. Who can forget the self-imposed prohibition on Indian military aircraft not crossing the Line of Control in Kashmir that was among the several measures adopted by the Vajpayee government? To the credit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he has adopted a much more robust policy towards the terror gangs and their backers in Pakistan. The decision to bombard a terror camp at Balakot was the right one to make, and it is a decision that neither Manmohan Singh nor Vajpayee would have had the determination to make. Had either of them done so, several of the terror attacks that took place during their time and later may have never taken place.
President Trump has lined up President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Theresa Minister May in order to put through a long-delayed resolution in the UN Security Council that would put on record what has been obvious for decades, which is that Masood Azhar is a global terrorist who needs to be stopped in his tracks. It is astonishing that China has put the narrow terror-supporting interests of GHQ Rawalpindi over its obligation to battle terror across the globe. Such a policy goes against the interests of the Chinese people, and is motivated by the manner in which the PLA follows the line given to it by its rusty Iron Brother, GHQ Rawalpindi. Chinese spokesperson Geng Shuang is living in an alternative universe when he claims that the US-UK-France effort to sanction Azhar is an exercise in reducing the authority of the UNSC. In fact, it is China that has made the UNSC a laughing stock by saving global terrorist Azhar repeatedly, despite compelling evidence of his guilt. China’s stand has put at risk its lucrative $50 billion trade in electronic goods with India, and has cast a shadow over India-China relations. All this for a global terrorist! President Trump has acted with deliberate speed in seeking the censure and sanctioning of Azhar, as by not doing so, the UNSC has lost much of its credibility as an institution that genuinely is committed to the battle against terrorism. The US-driven motion comes up for voting next week, and should China once again take the side of a global terrorist simply to please GHQ Rawalpindi against the global trend of fighting terrorism, the country will stand isolated and also lose whatever goodwill is left for Beijing in India. This time around, if China votes in favour of Masood Azhar and against the 1.3 billion people of India, there will need to be consequences. Prime Minister Modi needs to prepare for such an eventuality, and a security lock on telecom imports from China would be a good way to start.