The Siege In Kashmir Is Damaging India’s Image Abroad thewire.in

The world will not care about what India does in Kashmir. That seemed to be the key assumption of the Narendra Modi government (and its supporters) when it set out to change Kashmir’s special status and impose a communications blockade on the Valley. The belief was that India’s stature as a big market for weapons, goods and services would elicit no more than murmurs abroad – contracts always trounce ethics in a Realist universe, we are often told.

That view is now coming unstuck as criticism from foreign leaders and the international media is gathering momentum. The US political class is resolutely getting involved, notwithstanding Modi’s rally in Houston with President Donald Trump or foreign minister S. Jaishankar’s recent briefings to think-tank and policy elites in Washington and New York.