Indian, Israeli leaders morally bankrupt: PM

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan launched a derisive attack on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the day when Israel voted to elect its next government; India will begin the voting process for its general elections later this week.

"When leaders in Israel and India show a moral bankruptcy in their readiness to annex the occupied West Bank and India-Occupied Kashmir in defiance of international law, UN Security Council resolutions and their own constitution for votes, don't their people feel a sense of outrage and wonder how far they will go simply to win an election?" Imran Khan asked through his social media query on Tuesday.

Israelis began voting in an election on Tuesday that could hand conservative Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a record fifth term or see him dethroned by an ex-general who has pledged clean government and social cohesion. Netanyahu pledged last week to annex settlements in the occupied West Bank if he wins the upcoming general election.

India goes to polls next week where Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would be trying its utmost to return with a thumping win, while the main opposition party, Indian National Congress (INC), would attempt to deny Modi’s party continuity in the saddle and to win a majority.

Around 900 million will begin casting their votes starting on April 11 in a seven-phase polling process in India that will end with the announcement of its results on May 23. The ruling BJP hopes to retaincontrol of the 543-seat Lok Sabha (Lower House of Parliament). The BJP, in its 48-page manifesto, has made a new pledge to scrap Article 370 and Article 35A that gives special privileges to residents of India in the Kashmir region, such as laws preventing outsiders from buying property. Earlier, Imran Khan took to social media to criticise the Indian government for fuelling war hysteria with Pakistan after the mid-February incident, when more than 40 Indian soldiers were killed in a terrorist attack in the Pulwama district of IHK.