Pack of lies

The Russians are thinking out aloud. Pakistan is being scapegoated for no fault of its own. It seems some power-mongers in Kremlin were looking out for a ploy, and the easiest they found was to blame Pakistan for “being in league with Ukraine in preparing a dirty bomb”. The genesis of this blame-game rests in realpolitik, and it is nothing more than political arm-twisting at a time when Islamabad was playing its cards very carefully, and is eager to strike renewed understanding with Moscow in geo-economic terms. Senator Igor Morozov bad-mouthing that Ukrainian experts had travelled to Pakistan to discuss nuclear weapons technology is a figment of his imagination, and the Foreign Office has rightly sought an explanation over it.

The claim ironically has come at a time when the Russian forces are on a reported retreat, and came after Russia ramped up its rhetoric regarding Kiev’s alleged preparations to use a radioactive weapon. This for many is a déjà vu as Pakistan has been clandestinely blamed for venturing out with Libya, North Korea and Iran, and more specially for being in touch with the Saudis for making a nuclear bomb, or transferring technology. As those were hollow claims, so is the case this time around. And one should not forget that the world was taken for a ride on false notions of weapons of mass destruction in alleged possession of Iraq under Saddam Hussein. The rest is history as Iraq was bombarded into Stone Age, and years later US secretary of state Colin Powell admitted that he was forced to lie on WMDs.

President Vladimir Putin should personally look into this diatribe and, as a visionary leader, dispel such impressions cast by Russian legislators. Pakistan eyes Russia with due reverence, and has stayed aloof from taking sides with the US despite being an ally in real context. Its abstention at the UN General Assembly that literally favours Moscow is in need of being acknowledged. The so-called dossier titled ‘Nuclear Provocations in Ukraine: Who Needs It?’ is a pack of lies, and negates Pakistan’s sincerity as a responsible nuclear power.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 3^rd, 2022.

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