Dubai's investment in Jammu and Kashmir “a major success for India”: ex-Pak envoy Basit

On Monday, an agreement was inked between the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir and the government of Dubai at the Raj Bhawan in Srinagar to ramp up infrastructure and industries in the region. 

''This [signing of MoU] is a major success for India in the context of both Pakistan and Jammu and Kashmir as OIC [Organisation of Islamic Cooperation] members have always kept Pakistan's sensibilities on Kashmir at the forefront,'' Basit, a former high commissioner of Pakistan to India, said in his YouTube vlog. 

Criticising Prime Minister Khan's foreign policy, Basit, who was Islamabad's envoy to New Delhi from 2014 to 2017, said it is clear that Pakistan has ceded ground to India. ''In the past, they [OIC member nations] have never done something to make Pakistan feel that Muslim nations and the OIC are not standing behind us on the Kashmir issue. They may not have been very vocal, but have ensured not to work against our sentiment on Kashmir,'' he was quoted as saying by The News International newspaper. 

''There should be efforts to find a solution. But is it acceptable that everything is one-sided and the ground has been ceded to India. Now, the condition is that Muslim nations are signing MoUs with India,'' he said. India's Minister for Industries and Commerce Piyush Goyal said the world had belief in India and that the country will play an important role in global trade in the future. ''This MoU between the Dubai government and Jammu and Kashmir administration is an example of that belief,'' the minister said. 

Goyal said the MoU was the first step and it will be followed by people from around the world coming to Jammu and Kashmir to invest. Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha said that under the MoU, investments will come in from Dubai for development of industrial parks, IT towers, real estate, multipurpose towers, logistics and healthcare infrastructure like medical college and super-speciality hospital.