ISLAMABAD: The despicable bashing Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is incessantly receiving in India for his landmark speech to the UN General Assembly session, unprecedentedly highlighting the Kashmir cause and exposing Indian brutalities in the occupied valley, is a slap in the face of the accusers, who had been dubbing him as “Modi ka Yar” (friend) over the past three years.
This slogan coupled with the related propaganda that Nawaz Sharif is soft on India has never been received well among the people of Pakistan at large because these accusations are devoid of any meat. These have not dented his public standing or benefited those who have been whipping up lies.
It was not only Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chief Bilawal who repeatedly raised the slogan, “Modi ka jo yar hey, ghaddar hey”, during his election campaign in Azad Kashmir but some other politicians, who have little public say, or the elements, who are fed by certain quarters on daily basis, have also been indulging in such nefarious verbal sparring.
After the prime minister’s UN speech, which followed September 18 attack on the Uri brigade headquarters in the occupied Kashmir, he was tremendously ridiculed in India through different modes. Some Indians described him as a “lackey”, “obsequious” person of the Pakistan Army and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Others alleged that 90pc of his UN address was devoted to showering praise on terrorists.
Nawaz Sharif’s exceptional discourse put India on fire. Everyone there took on him in his own uncouth fashion. A Hindu fanatical organization announced a head money for his assassination. Topping it all was that the Indian channels telecast this announcement. Even some Indian commentators admitted that their TV channels presented themselves as the gutter press in the wake of the Uri episode, creating war hysteria and compared their mikes with AK-47 assault rifle.
Some of the headlines in the Indian newspapers reflected the extreme anger, which was caused by the Uri attack as well as Nawaz Sharif’s powerful speech: Uri terror attack: Demands rise for 'befitting reply' to Pakistan; How India can respond to Uri terror attack: Possible options’ Uri terror attack: No more tooth for tooth, 'for one tooth, complete jaw’; Punish Pak by diluting Indus Water Treaty: Experts; etc.
Some ‘sponsored’ politicians have been hurling wild charges ad nauseam over the premier alleging that he is a friend of India for promotion of his business there. All this has been part of wily misinformation to tarnish his image. It was also charged that a large number of Indians are working at the Sharif family’s sugar mills. All this has already turned out to be false and baseless.
Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) chief Allama Tahirul Qadri’s allegations are hardly seriously taken by saner and discerning people due to their credibility and integrity. However, it was appalling to hear Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan harping on the theme that the prime minister is more worried and concerned about his business interests in India than Pakistan’s interests.
But the way Nawaz Sharif convincingly and powerfully exposed India, projected the atrocities being committed by the Indian forces on the unarmed Kashmiris and Pakistan’s unflinching stand on the dispute, and the universal lunacy caused in India by his UN address has aptly answered the campaign waged against him by politicians of this ilk and other segments in Pakistan.
Just to pick up holes in his speech, some elements, who did not have any genuine idea to share but bandy about the line fed to them, have lamented that the prime minister did not mention the Indian interference in Balochistan.
But these silly minds ignore the fact that had Nawaz Sharif mentioned Balochistan in his discourse, it would have been unnecessarily internationalized as wanted by India and Balochs like Brahamdagh Bugti. As a matter of fact, there is no comparison, whatsoever, between the situations of IHK and Balochistan, and Pakistan must avoid talking about Balochistan at the international forums.
There is no uprising in Balochistan although the area is at times hit by terrorist attacks like other regions of Pakistan. The estranged Baloch elements, who direct sabotage activities and terrorism in the province while staying abroad, have no popular say. They are isolated and even when they were in Pakistan they had never been able to win more than a couple of seats of the national and Balochistan assemblies. No protest public meetings, processions or demonstrations are being held in Balochistan demanding freedom.
On the other hand, there is a total chaos in IHK, which has never been a peaceful area since 1947. But for the last three months, bloodshed is going on at the hands of the Indian forces and over 108 Kashmiri freedom fighters have been killed. The entire valley is under curfew and absolutely paralyzed. India has totally failed to crush the renewed, indigenous and spontaneous freedom movement. A lot of hue and cry is going on in certain countries over the atrocities being committed by the Indian forces in IHK.
Focusing on the Indian brutalities in a way that no Pakistani leader has ever done at the UN was most appropriate and apt. These sections are out of their head that they, because of their tunnel view, wanted Balochistan to be raised in the prime minister’s speech. Even one commentator of this coterie, expressing his bizarre views, remarked that Nawaz Sharif’s speech or no speech to the world body makes no difference. Such sick, incorrigible and agenda-driven minds are beyond cure. The bottom-line of their views is their contempt to democracy.
