Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad — known for decades for his hardline views on the matter created a controversy on Thursday.
New Delhi: Malaysia is emerging once again as a bugbear for India when it comes to the Kashmir issue.
Malaysian Prime Minis-ter Mahathir bin Moha-mad — known for decades for his hardline views on the matter — created a controversy on Thursday when he asked “all stakeholders (in the Kashmir issue) to abide by the relevant UN Security Council resolutions on J&K” passed way back in 1948-49 that had then called for a plebiscite in the state. This suggestion is something that New Delhi has always consistently rejected since India regards J&K as its integral part.
In a statement, the Malaysian Prime Minis-ter’s Office (PMO) said, “Malaysia would like to encourage all stakeholders to abide by the relevant UNSC resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir towards the maintenance of international peace and security. Malaysia is concerned over the recent developments in Jammu and Kashmir, in particular, the repeated escalation of tension in the region. As a close partner to both India and Pakistan, Malaysia places high hopes that the two neighbours will exercise utmost restraint to prevent further escalation that could be detrimental to the peace, stability and prosperity in the region. Malaysia always believes that dialogues and consultations are the best routes to a peaceful and amicable solution over this long-standing.”
The Malaysian PMO added, “Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad received a phone call from Mr. Imran Khan, Prime Minister of Pakistan on Monday, 5th August 2019, during which Prime Minister Imran Khan briefed Dr Mahathir on the latest situation in Jammu and Kashmir. Mr Khan, among others, referred to the need to respect the relevant United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions related to Jammu and Kashmir.”
Interestingly, a few weeks ago, Malaysia was one of the very few countries globally that had extended critical support to Pakistan to avoid Islamabad’s blacklisting at the meeting of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) — a global inter-governmental body to combat terror financing — at Orlando in the US earlier this year.
But all this may not come as too much of a surprise for India since the Malaysian PM has a decades-old image of being a hardliner on such issues. Malaysia was known to needle India on the Kashmir issue in the 1990s. But Malaysia got a dose of its own medicine and was seen to back down subsequently after it felt the heat following a massive controversy over the treatment of its own ethnic Tamil minority.
India considers Jammu and Kashmir as its integral part and also considers the Kashmir issue as a bilateral one between India and Pakistan as per the Shimla Agreement of 1972. Malaysia is part of ASEAN with which India has been strengthening its ties.
