The world has grown to tolerate an errant Pakistani State which uses terror as an instrument of state policy. However, when political leaders of delinquent nuclear-armed nations start claiming the absurd, the world stops to listen. This is exactly what happened on August 19, 2020. In his trademark braggart style, Pakistan Federal Minister Sheikh Rashid, in a televised interview with a domestic news channel raked up the issue of a nuclear confrontation with India claiming that “Pakistan has very calculated weapons which are small and perfect; they will save Muslim lives and target only Hindu population centres”.
It is obvious that the death and destruction caused by nuclear weapons cannot differentiate along religious lines and in any case, such irresponsible statements are rarely made by political leaders of a nuclear-armed country. This is, however, quite the norm for the Pakistani political leadership and not the first time that Pakistan has threatened India with nuclear war. In 2019, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan Niazi on several occasions, spoke very publicly about a nuclear war with India. In a New York Times Op-Ed on August 30, 2019, the Pak Premier wrote, “If the world does nothing to stop the Indian assault on Kashmir and its people, there will be consequences for the whole world as two nuclear-armed states get ever closer to a direct military confrontation.” The Pakistani establishment also never tires from raking-up the Kashmir issue at international meetings, but the comity of nations is quite fatigued.
There are also media reports that link the recent clash of the Chinese Communist Party’s Army (CCP Army) with Indian troops in the Galwan Valley to Pakistani designs. It states that “according to a US intelligence report, CCP had a much better understanding of Indian troop positions and movements ahead of the June 15, Galwan Valley clash in Ladakh, thanks to Pakistan”. While the bond between CCP and Pakistani military cabal has grown stronger in the recent COVID affected times, reports also allude to the fact that the Pakistanis moved twenty thousand additional troops in July 2020, into territory under its illegal occupation close to its border with India.
It is quite likely that George Santayana’s famous words “Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it” may have missed those in power in Rawalpindi and Islamabad. The words of the spiritual father of Pakistan, Allama Mohammed Iqbal, should, however, not be forgotten by the “Boys in Khaki”. Writing in Urdu, Allama Iqbal said, “a community receives light from its history; it becomes aware of itself by remembering its history”. And history tells the strategic Pakistani planner that Rawalpindi should never try to intervene in Kashmir; every time Pakistan has done so it has lost the confrontation with disastrous consequences for itself. In addition, in all its wars with India, the CCP has never supported the Pakistani misadventures either overtly or covertly. The recent Joint Statement released at the Meeting of Foreign Ministers of the two nations on August 21, 2020 in Beijing also urges Pakistan to “settle disputes and issues in the region through dialogue on the basis of equality and mutual respect”. On the issue of Kashmir there can be no clearer signal than the Joint statement from its strategic partner – the CCP.
In addition, its recent actions have led Pakistan’s Arab friends to distance themselves from the narrative of hatred and terror. However, Islamabad refuses to read the tea-leaves in its cup of Chai. Highlighting the plight of Palestinians, PM Imran Khan Niazi has stated that Pakistan will never accept the creation of Israel and will not follow the Arab nations including the UAE who have recently recognised Israel and accepted a peace deal with the Homeland of the Jews. Near simultaneously, incidents in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir embarrassed the Pakistani Premier where a renowned politician sought the removal of the occupation forces of the Pakistani Army from Pak Occupied Kashmir. Looking at Kashmir pragmatically, it would be important for puppet PM Imran Niazi to remember that of the four Islamic countries who have talked about the Kashmir (non)-issue in recent times, none have any clout in the world.
Utilising politico-religious organisations to further its narrative of terror and hatred has been another ploy used by Islamabad. In most nations, the Church and the State are distinct entities. However, the same is not the case in the ‘Land of the Pure’ where most public speeches start with religious salutes and verses, which conversely is a declaration of faith. Is this necessary? Should one feel obliged to put faith on display especially in a country founded on the principles of Islam for the Muslims of the subcontinent? In any case, Pakistan is one of the last countries in the world with any right to lecture others on the rights of the minorities. In its 2020 report, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) said Pakistan had failed to adequately protect its minorities and failed to ensure religious freedom for all, including members of various sects of the majority religion Islam. Religious independence therefore remains a chimera for the minorities in Pakistan.
Although Pakistan is home to roughly 220 million people, of whom the vast majority are Muslim, about 1.6 % of the population is Hindu, with a further 1.59 % Christian. Crimes targeting members of minority groups – including non-majority Muslim sects – occur regularly, including targeted attacks against Christians, Shia Muslims, Ahmadiyya Muslims and others. This includes the disproportionate application of the country’s strict blasphemy laws, which can carry a death sentence and is used liberally to murder innocent minorities.
So Pakistan once again stands isolated in the world. Proscribed by the West for the narrative of hate and terror and being pushed away and snubbed by its Arab brethren. Clutching at straws, and surrounded by irresponsible political colleagues like Federal Minister Sheikh Rashid, PM Imran Khan is watching helplessly as the Chinese Communist Party, CCP slowly, but inevitably, morphs Pakistan into the CCOP, Chinese Colony of Pakistan.
