By Amit Roy
LAURENCE FOX is not the only one whose history needs a little brushing up. Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan’s grasp of the history of Kashmir appears to be one fed to him by the Pakistani military.
Imran was interviewed for Radio 4’s Today programme by Mishal Husain in Davos. He wanted to only talk Kashmir, but she asked about the incarceration of thousands of Chinese Muslims in Xinjiang.
“At the moment, I did not know enough about it,” he replied. “If I have, we will speak to the Chinese privately because that’s how the Chinese are.”
This is not a defence of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi’s Kashmir policy or his Citizenship (Amendment) Act or the National Register of Citizens, which have been met with protests across India.
But negotiations between Pakistan and India are not going to be helped by Imran comparing the Modi government to the Nazis. On nearly the eve of Holocaust Day, his comments were unworthy of a head of government.
Imran launched into a familiar rant on Kashmir, accompanied with the implied threat of nuclear war.
Unfortunately for him, he is seen more as a mouthpiece for the generals and not taken too seriously. If he were, the US, which has not forgotten where Osama bin Laden found shelter, would wonder about Pakistan’s possession of nuclear weapons.
India and Pakistan should talk about trade and peopleto-people contact, not Kashmir, which will remain divided along the Line of Control.
Sunder Katwala
