China has withdrawn its shield for terrorist Makki and Pakistan has expressed desire to have dialogue

Can the leopard change its spots? Or Pakistan cease to be a sponsor of jihadist terror? Or China as the backer of Pakistan? The answer to all the three questions is in the negative, for just as the genetic code of a beast cannot be changed, the nature of nation-states cannot be altered. Especially if they emerge as two dangerous rogue states, exporting terror (in the case of Pakistan) and disease

(Covid-19) to all parts of the world. No, we can’t change their nature, but we can force them to behave themselves. The world has seen enough of Islamic terror flowing out of Pakistan to be fooled by its lies that it is checking jihadists (though Pakistan did succeed in convincing the Financial Action Task Force or FATF to remove it from the “grey list” in October last year). It is to the credit of India’s foreign policy that it managed to win over 14 out of the 15 members of the UN Security Council to its side, thus forcing China to give up the “technical” hold on the designation of Lahore-based Lashkar-e-Toiba’s deputy chief Abdul Rehman Makki as a global terrorist. Makki, on whose head the US Justice Department had put a bounty of $2 million, is brother-in-law to the designated terrorist and LeT chief Hafiz Saeed. Makki’s expertise was raising money from the Middle East.

Indian diplomats’ perseverance and persistence over Makki proved too much for China, which is a permanent UNSC member with veto power. In July 2022, China managed to put a technical hold on listing Makki as a global terrorist in the 1267 committee. New Delhi has another demand: listing the 26/11 murderer Sajjid Mir of LeT as a global terrorist by the same committee. It is a well-known fact that China has been shielding its ‘all-weather friend’ Pakistan in the UNSC from India’s actions targeted at Islamic terror. For instance, China torpedoed the efforts to designate Masood Azhar as a global terrorist. Ditto with Hafiz Saeed’s case. As blue-eyed boys of the Pakistani deep state, they have caused enough bloodshed in India; at the same time, however, they have also helped make Pakistan a beggar. This is the reason that Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif now wants peace with India. In an interview with Dubai-based Al Arabiya TV, he said that his country has learned its lesson after three wars with India which “brought more misery, poverty, and unemployment.” Sharif went on to say, “My message to the Indian leadership and Prime Minister Modi is that let’s sit down on the table and have serious and sincere talks to resolve our burning points like Kashmir. It is up to us to live peacefully and make progress or quarrel with each other and waste time and resources.” Just like China, Pakistan is also under duress to act sensibly. Being a peace-loving country, India can engage with Pakistan but we should never forget that it has become slightly amenable only because of pressure.