Decks have been cleared for the historic launch  of Srinagar-Sharjah international flights during the Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s first visit after the State’s reorganisation in August 2019.

Shah will begin his much anticipated visit on Saturday .

The  revival of flights from the UAE to the Jammu and Kashmir’s capital, which were stalled earlier,  is a huge diplomatic foot,  achieved in the teeth of a visceral opposition  mounted by Pakistan and amplified by Turkey. By ensuring that the flight from Sharjah is green-lighted, India has roped in an important member of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in the development of trade and infrastructure in Jammu and Kashmir.

Analysts say that the move is part of breaking Kashmir’s isolation, both domestically and internationally. Physical barriers between Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are being broken at the speed of knots with the slew of tunnels and railways that will give round the year connectivity to the region with the rest of India.

Days after a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed at the Raj Bhawan in Srinagar with representatives of the Government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the multinational logistic provider DP World on Monday, Home Minister Shah is scheduled to launch the first direct flight to Sharjah at the Srinagar International Airport on the first very day of his visit on Saturday. 

The MOU covers establishment of industrial parks, IT towers, multi-purpose towers, logistics, medical college, super specialty hospital and many other projects to be developed in the Union Territory. Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution and Textiles Piyush Goyal, J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and Chairman of DP World Dubai HE Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem were present at the signing ceremony.

J&K Government’s Principal Secretary Industry & Commerce Ranjan Prakash Thakur, Mohammed Ibrahim Al Shaibani, Director General of The Ruler's Court, Government of Dubai and HE Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Chairman and CEO of DP World, a global leader in supply chain solutions specialising in cargo logistics, port terminal operations, maritime services, signed the MOU.

“This MoU is a significant move towards rapid development and Industrial growth in J&K. It is a milestone after which the investment will pour in from the entire globe and is a big developmental push. Different entities from Dubai have shown keen interest in investment. Development has to be aspired on all fronts and we are on track”, Goyal asserted in his speech on Monday.

LG Manoj Sinha revealed that J&K had received a proposal for investment worth Rs 30,000 crore and offers for further investment worth Rs 60,000 were expected in the near future.

“This MoU is about Jammu Kashmir's prospects and I am confident it will set the pace in the business sector of the future that is key to the prosperity of people. It renews the foundation of cooperation and reaffirms the government’s commitment to build Atmanirbhar Jammu Kashmir that will immensely contribute to Atmanirbhar Bharat '', Sinha asserted. Working on the lines of Make in India, J&K will be connected to all major ports in India for transporting the unique products and agriculture and horticulture produce across the country and the world”, Sinha said.

Fearing establishment of some OIC countries’ consulates in J&K, Pakistan had in the past botched up New Delhi’s sustained efforts to set up a direct trade and diplomatic linkage with the Gulf countries. Even as there have been no terse reactions from the Pakistani establishment this time around, former High Commissioner in India, Abdul Basit, has called J&K’s MOU with UAE as “a major success for India”.

"This (signing of MoU) is a major success for India in the context of both Pakistan and Jammu and Kashmir as OIC members have always kept Pakistan's sensibilities on Kashmir at the forefront”, Basit has asserted in Kaleidoscope, his YouTube vlog.

"India's Kashmir strategy always had one important component that how to persuade some Muslim nations to open their missions or consulates in Kashmir and invest in the region. The critical basic idea is also to weaken the OIC from inside so that it is rendered incapable of taking a principled stand on Kashmir issue”, Basit has elaborated in the video.

"There is news that the Dubai government has signed an agreement with the Indian government under which Dubai will invest in infrastructure development in Jammu and Kashmir. Details are yet to arrive about the MoU and how it will bring investment. Whether there will be an investment in the Kashmir region or Jammu is not very clear”, Basit has said.

"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. That's why, we saw many times that representatives of the OIC nations used to refrain from visiting Kashmir. Many times, even if they were invited, the OIC nations kept in mind the feelings of Pakistan”, Basit has observed, sensing a policy shift in the UAE which also brokered a border truce between India and Pakistan in February this year.

The former Pakistani diplomat’s vlog indicates the significance of the MoU as the partnership with a major global financial centre such as the UAE is a message to the world that Islamabad has no locus standi on Jammu and Kashmir. The UAE’s direct trade and diplomatic linkage to J&K will be interpreted as a major diplomatic setback for Pakistan as this Gulf country has a powerful presence in the OIC. Pakistan's claims on Kashmir and attempts to internationalise the Kashmir issue depended heavily on the OIC support.

"We are shaking our hands and legs in the dark. We seem to have no Kashmir policy left. It's sad. The current government's casual approach will haunt it”, Basit has said in a tangent on Imran Khan’s government in Pakistan. According to him, the signing of the MOU had made it clear that things were slipping out of Pakistan’s hands. "Past governments have also contributed to weakening Pakistan's policy on Kashmir”.

"I don't say there can be no out of the box solution on Kashmir. There should be efforts to find a solution. But, is it acceptable that everything is one-sided and the ground is ceded to India? Now, the condition is that Muslim nations are signing MoUs with India”, Basit has said in his video.

With India's business and diplomatic ties with the UAE growing, Basit has said: “At this rate, it's a possibility that soon the UAE and Iran may open their consulates in Kashmir. If this is the state of our diplomatic effort on Kashmir, this can happen”.

Tentatively named as Sheikhul Alam International Airport, the Srinagar airport was designated as an international airport in March 2005. However, the first inauguration of the international flights, between Srinagar and Dubai, was made by the then Chairperson of United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and President of the then ruling Congress party Sonia Gandhi on 14 February 2009.

Flanked by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, two former Chief Ministers Farooq Abdullah and Ghulam Nabi Azad, Union Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel, Union Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav and Union Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz, Mrs Gandhi had received the first international flight from Dubai before flagging off an Air India Express flight from Srinagar to Dubai.

However, the Indian plan fell flat as Islamabad put in sustained lobbying pre-empting UAE’s initiative to set up a consulate for visa facilitation in Srinagar. Pakistan also denied permission to Air India Express to fly over its airspace. A resultant tedious and lengthy detour made the operation economically unviable. By Thursday, it was unclear whether the Government of UAE had settled the issue of air space with Pakistan or a longer route was being adopted.

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