On July 6, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will represent India at the BRICS Summit in Rio. At the summit, India will be joined by nine other participating nations, along with the host nation, Brazil, and observer countries. At the summit, India’s major objective is to push through its counter-terrorism agenda in light of the Pahalgam attack and the aftermath of it, which led to a conflict with the Pakistani state, and name and shame the terror-breeding nation.

However, it’s not the first time India has been pushing this agenda with a similar group of nations in attendance. Last month, at the SCO defence ministers’ meeting in Qingdao, India tried to raise the issue of cross-border terrorism emanating from Pakistan, only to be rebutted. Pakistan, with the help of China, forced down a counter-terror joint statement that failed to mention Pahalgam but conveniently included the struggle for independence in Balochistan, a pain point for the Pakistani state nonetheless, and conveniently labelled it terrorism. India refused to sign it. Nine of the 10 participating nations that did sign the joint statement included Iran, Russia, and China.

Three of those nations will also be present at the BRICS summit; therefore, the question arises whether they’d still try to rebut India’s genuine counterterror agenda. Will Russia ally with China and Iran? Will China once again be........

© News18