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Saturday, October 12, 2024

A Heartfelt Message to Prime Minister Khan – Imran Jan

When push comes to shove it is time to take action. With India taking advantage of Pakistan’s lack of retaliation tactics and leniency, it has left PM Khan no choice but to take the stand for his nation and give a befitting reply to India.

Imran Jan |

It has been a little over a year since Imran Khan won the election and became the Prime Minister of Pakistan. From the get go, he has championed peace with India and even expected its prospects to increase in the events of Narendra Modi winning the election. Modi won the elections but peace never came.

In fact, the two, Modi winning the election and achieving peace with India, have proven to be mutually exclusive. I, and many others, repeatedly warned Prime Minister Khan not to expect peace from Modi for a very simple reason; Modi adheres to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) ideology, which is an extremist ideological mindset favoring belligerence against Pakistan and Muslims rather than achieving peace.

And so, when the majority of the Indian people vote for such a party, it spoke volumes about how morally bankrupt society has become and how least inclined the population is towards achieving peace with Pakistan.

How does a dignified Nation respond?

It is not just Modi; it is rather the overwhelming majority of India. What else does it really mean for the majority to support the rhetoric by voting him in again? It doesn’t require some extra talent to fathom this simple reality.

Yet, Imran Khan continued to pursue peace with India and contrary to his many supporters; he kept sending peace gestures that at times sounded ridiculous.

Read more: Why the Taliban are not terrorists? – Imran Jan

When another country threatens you with war, insults you by calling you a terrorist, sends spies to create unrest in Balochistan with the hopes of breaking your country’s union, you don’t send them peace gestures. You break their jaws and give them a bloody nose. That is what dignified nations do.

Speaking of dignity, Mr. Prime Minister, this is a huge reason why many people voted for you. Many of us care about our nation’s dignity, our nation’s pride. We are still the people that will eat grass but we won’t accept India bullying us and be sent peace gestures in reply. Can we please accept the obvious and actually embrace it wholeheartedly; that we do not want peace with India? We can live happily with that. We will still prosper. The sky wouldn’t fall on us.

The Back-story

A little perspective here about the events following the Pulwama attack would help clarify things. When that incident happened, India threatened Pakistan with “a befitting reply”.

The world community said nothing despite the fact that threatening another sovereign state is a contravention of article 2 (4) of the UN charter, which says, “All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.”

Not to mention, the consequences of a war between two nuclear armed states could be unimaginably devastating. Then India actually went ahead and attacked Pakistan by striking Balakot and falsely claimed to have killed over 350 terrorists.

Local and foreign media, found that claim to be absolutely false. But the real story at the time missed everyone’s radar; India attacked Pakistan and didn’t even bother to claim plausible deniability by making some false story up. It proudly accepted attacking a sovereign state. Not a word of caution from the world community.

Then came the aerial dogfight between the two countries, where the Indian pilot Abhinandan Varthaman was captured after his plane was shot down by the Pakistan Air Force.

Let me remind you Mr. Prime Minister, that it was at this point that all the calls for “de-escalation” and “restraint” started pouring in from powerful states of the world. Every nation became “concerned” and “deeply concerned” with the “deteriorating situation” and with possibilities of war. No such calls for came when India threatened and attacked Pakistan. Mr. Prime Minister that is the world we are living in.

Some Advice 

So, here is some advice from someone who holds Pakistan very dear and who indulges in relentless arguments with people in America when they badmouth Pakistan: stop expecting results by being a good guy, the world doesn’t pay attention to nice guys.

Read more: The ‘alternative lies’ of global power politics – Imran Jan

This is global politics and the sooner we realize that this is a ruthless game we do not want to lose, the better we would be served. Just as the world became concerned with the prospects of war when Abhinandan was captured and not when Pakistan was threatened and attacked, so, Pakistan must create the same worry around the world. This can be done by mobilizing its army, moving heavy war machinery and materiel to the eastern border. And before embarking on the journey leave a quick note for the Americans saying “off to give India what it keeps asking for.”

Second option: We suggest you do the Afghan peace “bilaterally” since that is what you tell us to do anyway.

Third option: Tell the world powers: scratch my back, if you want me to scratch yours.

If you choose option 3, you know where to find us.

In the movie For a Few Dollars More, there is this bar scene where Clint Eastwood forcefully starts a game of cards with a man already sitting in the bar with some friends. Once the game is over and Eastwood wins, the man asks him, “didn’t hear what the bet was” to which Eastwood replies, “Your life”.

If the Americans call and ask, “Didn’t hear what scratching your back meant”, Pakistan should respond with one word: Kashmir.

Imran Jan is a political analyst. He can be reached at imran.jan@gmail.com. Twitter @Imran_Jan. The views expressed in this article are author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Global Village Space.