If China has any sense, it won’t come back to embarrass itself again : Lord Rami Ranger

The truth bombs dropped by India’s Minister of External S Jaishankar on Pakistan’s tendency to play victim on terrorism at a United Nations security council event during a press briefing last week has captured global attention. In fact, Jaishankar has been on a roll lately —  single- handedly countering misleading narratives about India and establishing India’s position with carefully crafted words and a firm hand.

The EAM embarrassing Pakistan on a global platform comes at a time when we saw escalations across the LAC in Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh. As per the government statement, Chinese soldiers were given a “befitting reply” by Indian jawans.

The New Indian caught up with Lord Raminder Ranger, CBE Member of the House of Lords (UK), Conservatives Party member to unpack how other important democracies and economies are looking at these developments and where do their sympathies lie.

A Pakistani journalist got pulled up by Jaishankar for obfuscation of facts on terrorism. He tried to project terrorism as this mutual problem between India and Pakistan. Jaishankar’s response to him went viral as not only he showed the mirror to the journalist but also shredded into pieces Pakistan’s self-respect on a global platform. Do you think, as Jaishankar pointed out, the world today sees through Pakistan’s theatrics of playing the victim on terrorism? 

The foreign minister spoke very eloquently and he rightly and emphatically pointed out that terrorism can only be stopped by those who have started it. There couldn’t have been a better way of putting it. Pakistan started and enabled terrorism as far back in 1948. Kashmir was independent. Who upset the balance of power in Kashmir? Pakistan. Terrorism has began there. Since then they have had four wars (1947–1948, 1965, 1971, and 1999), they lost all the four wars, and they destroyed their economy in the process. Today, Pakistan is the most unstable country and has no money because of their policies. They blame India, only to feed their home audience.  I have to just ask one question, where international investment is going. Is it going to Pakistan, or is it going to India? Now, the world knows that Pakistan is the epicentre of terrorism. All terrorists including Bin Laden where found in Pakistan and they kept denying it. This is the character of this country. They were taking aid from America and yet they were double-crossing them.

What do you think of Pakistan foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto’s unsavoury remarks (butcher of Gujarat comment) about Prime Minister Narendra Modi? What could be his intentions behind making such a remark at this point of time? 

Mr Bhutto should go to school. He is not fit for international politics. He has no idea that Pakistan is a victim of its own Army. They are now milking the country and depleting its resources. Pakistani Army cannot do without terrorism because once terrorism stops, Pakistan Army will have to justify its existence. I always say, Kashmir is just an excuse for them to hold the country together. What happened in Bangladesh? These were Muslims turning against Muslims. 2 million Bangladeshis were killed. It is India who saved Bangladesh and liberated them. No country ever goes to war to liberate another country, without any agenda. In the history of wars, there is no such instance except for India going to war for Bangladesh. India didn’t go to war to conquer, but to liberate people who were massacred, abused and raped.

Therefore, for Bilawal Bhutto to say whatever he did is the biggest joke of the century. No one takes Pakistan seriously, no one believes them. Even Hillary Clinton said you are keeping snakes (Taliban) in your backyard; you expect them to bite you but they will bite you as well. Pakistan’s law and order is a mess and it’s a choice they have made. Look at the status of women in Pakistan.  On the other hand ever since Prime Minister Modi has come to power there has been less communal tension, less law and order issues. In India women have equal rights, and they are empowered. The PM is respected throughout the world. The world wants to do business with him. But no one wants to do business Bilawal Bhutto. He can talk big just to impress a handful of people surrounding him. He has no substance. He can’t tarnish our PM.

How is the world watching the increased tension between India and China across LAC? And how is the UK as a strategic partner reacting to China’s aggression against India?

First of all, the UK has banned the Chinese ambassador from coming to the Parliament. We are not going to do any more sensitive business with China as they have proved themselves to be completely unreliable partners. We can’t trust China because they spy, they do underhand dealing in the world. Even Americans are very wary of China. The world is wary of China as they have nothing common with the free world. You only have to see how they treat their own citizens. They are oppressed. No right to protest, form a political party, or to elect their own leader.

The Chinese dragon has been made very powerful because of the trade we did with China, and now it’s coming to bite us. They are causing problems in the South China sea. Japan has announced that it’s going to triple its defence budget thanks to China. North Korea and China, they are both together. Nobody should trust them.

Look at what happened to India – we were all so gung ho about “Hindi Chini bhai bhai.” I remember when I was in school we were taught that we are brothers. And then what did they do in 1962? That time India was not prepared. But this time India is prepared. China should know this is not 1962. We will retaliate with the same force. The Indian Army gave them a befitting reply and if they have any sense they will not come back to embarrass themselves again

What do you have to say about China and Pakistan’s efforts to involve third parties in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) by inviting Turkey? ( In November, Pakistan PM had invited Turkey to join CPEC, CPEC is a key part of China’s ambitious project Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), aimed at renewing the country’s trade routes from ancient times (Silk route). India has assiduously opposed the USD 60 billion project, which connects Pakistan’s southern Gwadar port in Balochistan to China’s western Xinjiang and passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.)

Turkey was doing very well until Erdogan came. Now, they have started to go backward, unfortunately. In terms of joining CPEC, they should just ask about what China is doing to Uyghur Muslims.

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