PM advises ‘delusional’ Modi to ‘get lesson in history’

Imran Khan says any military misadventure against Pakistan would be Indian PM’s last mistake

KARACHI: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday took a dig at his “mentally depressed” Indian counterpart for his vainglorious rhetoric and advised him to “get a lesson in history” before hurling any threats of defeating Pakistan.

He was responding to the relentless belligerent rhetoric of the Indian leadership, especially the statement of Narendra Modi who recently claimed his country could now make arch-rival Pakistan “bite the dust” in less than 10 days in any new war.

“Modi would be delusional if he believes India could defeat Pakistan in less than 10 days,” the prime minister said while addressing a rally organised in connection with Kashmir Solidarity Day in Mirpur, AJK.

“Any misadventure will result in India’s own defeat. More than 200 million people of Pakistan and its battle-hardened military will teach India a hard lesson,” he added.

The prime minister said any military misadventure by Modi would be his grave last mistake. “You need to get a lesson in history. It seems your degree is fake,” Imran said. “Such vainglory had consumed people like Napoleon and Hitler.”

Modi’s policy of turning India into a Hindu state and his systematic marginalisation of religious minorities has stirred up chaos in his country which New Delhi has been unable to quell. Unnerved by the growing resentment against his policies, Modi is trying to raise the bogey of war with Pakistan in an attempt to take the spotlight off domestic chaos.

Premier Imran said Modi’s warmongering was the result of his frustration over his administration’s failure to put down internal turmoil in his country. “Modi is doing this only to please the followers of RSS ideology,” he said where referring to India’s new citizenship law which discriminates against Muslims.

The RSS, or Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, is a right-wing, Hindu nationalist paramilitary organisation which believes in racial superiority of Hindus. Premier Imran has repeatedly warned that Modi, himself an RSS ideologue, could become a risk not just to Pakistan but also to the entire world.

Last August, the Modi government abrogated a constitutional provision in the Indian constitution to strip Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IOJ&K) of its semiautonomous status and put the disputed Himalayan region under siege which continues to this day.

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Pakistan has rejected the illegal and unconstitutional move of Modi which, analysts believe, was meant to take IOJ&K off the table in any future talks with Pakistan.

But Premier Imran called it a blunder by India to annex IOJ&K because this move, he believes, would become the reason for the independence of Kashmir. He reassured the Kashmiris that “good times” are near as their freedom from Indian occupation is not far now.

He said the international community had largely forgotten the Kashmir dispute before the August 5 annexation of IOJ&K “But in six months’ time, the Kashmir issue has come back into the global spotlight.

The UN Security Council has discussed the Kashmir dispute thrice since the revocation of the region’s semiautonomous status. The last time, the global body had officially listed the tinderbox known as Kashmir as a topic of discussion was in 1971.

“Today, the world fully comprehends the situation Kashmiris are living in,” Imran said, while referring to the curfew and communication and information blockade in the dispute region. “The RSS cannot go ahead with its sinister pogrom of Kashmiris due to international pressure.”

The prime minister said the Indian officialdom was obsessed with Pakistan and Modi’s election campaign was based on hatred towards Pakistan. Modi staged the Balakot drama and whipped up war hysteria in India and then cashed in on it to win his last election, he added. “They martyred a few trees and then shame-facedly claimed they had killed hundreds of militants.”

Imran was referring to a botched air strike by Indian fighter jets in the Balakot area of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa on February 26, which triggered a humiliating reprisal in which Pakistani warplanes not only carried out a daredevil raid in IOJ&K but also shot down two Indian jets in the ensuing dogfight.

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“Pakistan released the pilot of one of the downed Indian jets as a goodwill gesture because we believe in resolving issues peacefully,” he added.

The prime minister has successfully internationalised the dormant issue of Kashmir and apprised the world leaders in bilateral meetings of blatant human rights violation in IOJ&K after the revocation of the disputed region’s special status.

“I spoke to [US] President Trump, [British] Prime Minister Boris Johnson, [Germany’s] Chancellor Angela Merkel, [Canada’s] Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, [France’s] President Emmanuel Macron, and Russia’s foreign minister,” Imran recalled. “Now, they know what Modi’s government is doing to the people of Kashmir.”

He predicted that once New Delhi lifts the curfew in IOJ&K “a sea of people would rise to chant Azadi”. “Prayers of the entire Pakistani nation are with you [Kashmiris],” he added.