K.Venkateshwar.Rao

POLITICS  / K. Venkateshwar Rao 10 FEBRUARY 2020 The Muslim world appears to have formally acknowledged that Kashmir is an integral part of India. According to the prominent Dawn daily newspaper in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia declined Pakistan’s request for an emergency meeting of the council of Foreign Ministers on February 9 at the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) conference. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan has been on a globetrotting mission seeking support ever since the Narendra Modi-led government abrogated the special status of Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019. The Fight Over Kashmir The Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan has captured the attention of Muslim leaders globally. It has become an integral part of Pakistan’s diplomacy to muster support against India in the Islamic world. Islamabad has striven to evolve a consensus among OIC member states in condemning New Delhi’s Kashmir policy, which it argues violates the rights of the Muslim popula...

POLITICS   / K. Venkateshwar Rao 31 JANUARY 2020 Contrary to the promise of a “bigger and better deal,” the proposed Middle East Israeli-Palestinian peace plan by US President Donald Trump appears to be an exercise meant to benefit him and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the electoral battle. The p,an is likely to create problems rather than solve them and is mainly meant to bolster the fortunes of Trump and Netanyahu in the US and Israeli elections, respectively. Taking a sharp departure from decades of the American policy that advocates the creation of a Palestinian state with slight adjustments to the Israeli boundaries that existed before the Arab-Israeli war of 1967, Trump’s Plan recognizes and legitimizes the Jewish settlements built on occupied Palestinian territory, which are regarded as illegal under international law. The Plan Threatens The Two-State Solution Trump’s plan is not only a threat to the idea of creation of a Palestinian state with its...