Countries that have come out in support of Pakistan by opposing India’s right to retaliate through Operation Sindoor themselves possess a dubious record of democracy, human rights and constitutional governance. Azerbaijan has a preposterous record of cracking down on journalists, academics, intellectuals, students and the media. There is an obvious compatibility and consonance in the world view of the Azerbaijan dispensation and the Pakistani establishment. Gross human rights abuse, dumping the democratic process and running the country as a police state is increasingly becoming the hallmark of Azerbaijan.

Turkey’s record of siding with Pakistan has been evident over the years and has not come as a surprise to anyone in India. Turkey itself is enmeshed in a prolonged struggle to establish its political and cultural identity. Its record of handling internal challenges is similar to Pakistan’s, which is disastrous and far-removed from any strands of democratic conduct. President Erdogan, pursuing a vain dream of resurrecting the Turkish-Ottoman empire, believes that Pakistan, with its hollow ambitions of becoming the rallying point of a global radical ummah, will partner him in realising that pipe dream.

It is interesting to recall in this context that Pakistan’s founding ideologues and proponents, however, spoke of creating a Pakistan that would surpass Turkey. In his persuasively argued and richly documented study “Creating a New Medina", historian Venkat Dhulipala writes, that as “Pakistan became the focus of raucous........

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