MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Tepid New Delhi support for Argentina's sponsored Falklands/Malvinas dialogue commission

The initiative seems to have run into rough weather since members of the ruling party BJP of Prime Minister Narendra Modi declined to attend

The Commission for Dialogue referred to the Falkland Islands dispute which was launched in India, with the support of outstanding political figures, as was announced by Argentine minister of Foreign Affairs Santiago Cafiero, does not seem to have had the response expected, according to the Indian media in the framework of the annual Raisina Dialogue organized by the Indian government.

In effect the initiative seems to have run into rough weather since members of the ruling party BJP of Prime Minister Narendra Modi declined to attend after the party expressed uneasiness over the launch just two days after hosting British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Launching the Commission in New Delhi on Sunday, minister Cafiero acknowledged India's traditional support for resolving the “territorial dispute” and said, “Argentina and India share same anti–colonial heritage and values”.

Members of the Commission for Dialogue include Suresh Prabhu, Shashi Tharoor, Tara Gandhi Bhattacharjee, Shazia Ilmi, Former Ambassador Rengaraj Vishwanathan and Dr. Sonya Gupta.

Despite having launched the Commission in the presence of a large number of envoys, former India's Union Minister and BJP leader Suresh Prabhu, who was scheduled to appear at the event, stayed away.

”I am currently travelling to the United States to visit several universities and speaking there. I am not thus obviously part of this event as reported,” he said in a social media message in response to BJP spokesperson Shazia Ilmi. Ilmi whose name also appeared in the list of members of the Commission, made a brief appearance before the launch of the formal segment but did not stay for the actual launch of the Commission.

Addressing the inaugural event, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said India has been a votary of negotiated settlement over the Falkland Islands over which Argentina and the U.K. had fought a landmark war in 1982. Mr. Tharoor, a member of the Commission, referred to India’s leading role in decolonizing the Global South and said, “India supports resolution of intractable disputes through dialogue.”

Speaking at the event, the Argentine minister Cafiero acknowledged the “brotherhood between India and Argentina” and urged the U.K. and the international community to declassify the records of the 1982 Falklands War as that would shed new light on the record of the U.K.

“U.K. exposed the entire South Atlantic region by transporting nuclear weapons in the region. The nuclear weapons that the U.K. transported during the war equaled to 20 Hiroshimas,” said Santiago Cafiero.

The minister interviewed by The Hindu said that India is expected to support Argentina in various global platforms including the Security Council. “There is no place for colonialism in the 21st century and we are very happy to find support from India at the launch of the Commission here,” pointed out Cafiero who met External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar ahead of the launch of the Commission. Cafiero is scheduled to participate in the annual Raisina Dialogue during from April 25 to 27.

The Raisina Dialogue is India’s premier conference on geopolitics and geo-economics committed to addressing the most challenging issues facing the global community. Every year, leaders in politics, business, media, and civil society converge in New Delhi to discuss the state of the world and explore opportunities for cooperation on a wide range of contemporary matters.

The three day Dialogue will be opened by PM Modi and has as a main participant, European Commission president Ursula Von Der leyen.

The conference is hosted by the Observer Research Foundation in partnership with the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. This effort is supported by a number of institutions, organizations and individuals, who are committed to the mission of the conference.

The 2022 edition will be modeled along six thematic pillars: Rethinking Democracy: Trade, Tech and Ideology; End of Multilateralism: A Networked Global Order?; Water Caucuses: Turbulent Tides in the Indo-Pacific; Communities Inc: First Responders to Health, Development, & Planet; Achieving Green Transitions: Common Imperative, Diverging Realities and Samson vs Goliath: The Persistent and Relentless Tech Wars.