Skip to main content

Why are BJP chief's "lackeys" crying wolf over Imran Khan's overtures of building bridges with India?

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat*
Pakistan's election results have finally come. According to the Election Commission of Pakistan, Imran Khan-led Pakistan Tehreek-i- Insaf Party (PTI) has won 115 seats in the 270 member national assembly, which means that party would need independent MNAs to come to power. The problems of PTI party are further aggravated with many candidates contesting more than one seat.
Imran Khan himself contested extraordinarily from five constituencies of Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, Bannu and Mianwali and won all of them, which means he will have to resign from rest of the four seats. In the fragile political atmosphere it is difficult to win all of them again for someone else.
The elections this year was marred with violence and allegation of mass scale rigging. In fact, many in the Pakistan media have said that the Election Commission of Pakistan must resign for its gross failure in managing the elections efficiently. Widespread irregularities have been reported in the media, and the results came too slow. There was no coherent coordination, which is needed for run an election on such a large scale.
Imran Khan, the flamboyant captain of yesteryears, dreamt of leading his country long back. There was no doubt about his popularity in "Pakistan. He was the greatest leader of his country on the cricket field, whose quality was to inspire and encourage a whole lot of young superfast bowlers like Wasim Akram.
Imran Khan has already addressed media after PTI became the single largest party in the elections. He put India on priority number three, and talked about peace. Fair enough, he has to work in close coordination with the Pakistan establishment, which is the army. He can’t have an independent policy without getting well with the army chief. But to be fair to him, he did well to talk of peace.
Imran Khan can do what others could not. The reason for that is in his maturity as a leader and his understanding. Though to become popular, he had to turn 'right', which frankly speaking he never was, but then politics can force you to do all kind of juggles that you might not believe in person.
His third marriage was basically meant to address the religious sentiments of the people. The irony of politics is that social reforms and politics normally don't go together. With likes of Jamima and Rehams, Imran would not have got the support of the masses, who always considered him Anglican, but thanks God, he was not blamed a Zionist agent by the opponents when married to Jamima.
The results show that his party got huge mandate in the North West Frontier Province, a region, which is still run on rabid religious laws and practices.
It is surprising how the Indian lackeys of BJP chief Amit Shah are crying wolf over Imran Khan's overtures of building bridges with India. What is wrong when he says that he want to resolve all the issues? After all, he is going to the prime minister and must reflect his priorities. Should he say, he does not want to negotiate with a communal Hindu government in India?
Times Now made loud noises like 80,000 soldiers have been killed in conflict with Pakistan, and therefore we must not speak to them. Who cares if you don't speak Rahul Shiva Shankar or Arnab Goswami? If this government has put them to do this campaign, then it’s fine, they can carry on, which will ultimately fail the Government of India.
If the government is so determined to break everything with Pakistan then it must close the High Commission and ask the Pakistani High Commissioner to leave Delhi. It can’t do the all these nonsense. These anchors are being paid to destroy the serenity and atmosphere in the air right from Kashmir to South Asia.
The idiotic lumpens, as I would like to call them, have no understanding of geopolitical situation in South Asia. Pakistan is not begging to you as China has already reached everywhere right from Pakistan to Nepal, Sri Lanka and Maldives. The only option this Brahminical elite in India want is to surrender to Donald Trump, against whom Americans are themselves rising in protest.
A secular democratic Pakistan is in the best interest of India. Obviously, you can’t expect Imran Khan, the leader of his country, to please India’s sentiments. He will do it for his own country. The politics in our countries is based on rhetoric.
When Modi and Shah will use Pakistan as a bogey to divide the nation during the elections, we can think of the same in Pakistan, but the great thing is that all those fund collectors in the name of Jihad have been mercilessly defeated by Pakistan people. However, it also needs to be seen that they may not be out for ever neither we can say that all the politicians who have won have absolutely liberal outlook.
Imran Khan has to be given time. We all know that all the prime ministers in Pakistan will have to work together with the army. That is not new. Nawaz Sharif too was doing that. When he tried independently and became more powerful, Musharraf threw him away. That is the tragedy of that country.
Both in India and Pakistan, peace talks are only possible through non-political actors, who are not seeking 'blessings' of the people in elections where 'nationalism' and 'jingoism' of high decibel sale. It is these peaceniks, who are important both in India and Pakistan, who will ultimately protect us. To call all of them as anti-national by the dalals is dangerous, to say the least.
IThe leader of Indian nation must rise above the narrow confines and show magnanimity. If these dalals in the media paid by their Marwadi bosses want to set the agenda for next elections of creating the favorite Hindu-Muslim through an India-Pakistan binary, then India must defeat them. I hope India will.
The government formation process in Pakistan is their internal matter. It will be tedious, and Imran Khan’s skills will be tested, but I am sure, if he becomes leader of his country, he will have enormous good will and with his liberal outlook he can take bold decisions and initiatives for building up a long term stable relationship with India.
There is a reality too that Indian concern too need to be addressed particularly controlling those elements who can only spit venom against India at all the time, very much like our owns.

We stand with peace between India and Pakistan. It is important because if it happen then our defence expenditure will reduce and we will invest more in our anti-poverty programme. We can’t make the defence companies of cronies 'successful' by continuously chanting war mantras. War has never been decisive, it will only bring destruction and depression. Peace has greater dividend. It will bring prosperity and happiness everywhere. War-mongers are hate mongers and must be defeated at all level.
---
*Well-known human rights activist. Source: Author’s Facebook timeline 

Comments

TRENDING

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor*  This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

History, culture and literature of Fatehpur, UP, from where Maulana Hasrat Mohani hailed

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat*  Maulana Hasrat Mohani was a member of the Constituent Assembly and an extremely important leader of our freedom movement. Born in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, Hasrat Mohani's relationship with nearby district of Fatehpur is interesting and not explored much by biographers and historians. Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri has written a book on Maulana Hasrat Mohani and Fatehpur. The book is in Urdu.  He has just come out with another important book, 'Hindi kee Pratham Rachna: Chandayan' authored by Mulla Daud Dalmai.' During my recent visit to Fatehpur town, I had an opportunity to meet Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri and recorded a conversation with him on issues of history, culture and literature of Fatehpur. Sharing this conversation here with you. Kindly click this link. --- *Human rights defender. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/vbrawat , X @freetohumanity, Skype @vbrawat

India's health workers have no legal right for their protection, regrets NGO network

Counterview Desk In a letter to Union labour and employment minister Santosh Gangwar, the civil rights group Occupational and Environmental Health Network of India (OEHNI), writing against the backdrop of strike by Bhabha hospital heath care workers, has insisted that they should be given “clear legal right for their protection”.

Uttarakhand tunnel disaster: 'Question mark' on rescue plan, appraisal, construction

By Bhim Singh Rawat*  As many as 40 workers were trapped inside Barkot-Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi after a portion of the 4.5 km long, supposedly completed portion of the tunnel, collapsed early morning on Sunday, Nov 12, 2023. The incident has once again raised several questions over negligence in planning, appraisal and construction, absence of emergency rescue plan, violations of labour laws and environmental norms resulting in this avoidable accident.

Job opportunities decreasing, wages remain low: Delhi construction workers' plight

By Bharat Dogra*   It was about 32 years back that a hut colony in posh Prashant Vihar area of Delhi was demolished. It was after a great struggle that the people evicted from here could get alternative plots that were not too far away from their earlier colony. Nirmana, an organization of construction workers, played an important role in helping the evicted people to get this alternative land. At that time it was a big relief to get this alternative land, even though the plots given to them were very small ones of 10X8 feet size. The people worked hard to construct new houses, often constructing two floors so that the family could be accommodated in the small plots. However a recent visit revealed that people are rather disheartened now by a number of adverse factors. They have not been given the proper allotment papers yet. There is still no sewer system here. They have to use public toilets constructed some distance away which can sometimes be quite messy. There is still no...

Women's rights leaders told to negotiate with Muslimness, as India's donor agencies shun the word Muslim

By A Representative Former vice-president Hamid Ansari has sharply criticized donor agencies engaged in nongovernmental development work, saying that they seek to "help out" marginalizes communities with their funds, but shy away from naming Muslims as the target group, something, he insisted, needs to change. Speaking at a book release function in Delhi, he said, since large sections of Muslims are poor, they need political as also social outreach.

Sardar Patel was on Nathuram Godse's hit list: Noted Marathi writer Sadanand More

Sadanand More (right) By  A  Representative In a surprise revelation, well-known Gujarati journalist Hari Desai has claimed that Nathuram Godse did not just kill Mahatma Gandhi, but also intended to kill Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Citing a voluminous book authored by Sadanand More, “Lokmanya to Mahatma”, Volume II, translated from Marathi into English last year, Desai says, nowadays, there is a lot of talk about conspiracy to kill Gandhi, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, and Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, but little is known about how the Sardar was also targeted.

Bihar’s land at ₹1 per acre for Adani sparks outrage, NAPM calls it crony capitalism

By A Representative   The National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) has strongly condemned the Bihar government’s decision to lease 1,050 acres of land in Pirpainti, Bhagalpur district, to Adani Power for a 2,400 MW coal-based thermal power project.