Indian surgical strike could bring N-armed countries face-to-face: PM

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan cautioned if the fascist BJP government in India resorted to a surgical strike inside Pakistan, it would be responded exactly in the same way it was responded in February 2019, and it could bring the two nuclear-armed countries face-to-face.

In an interview with Al-Jazeera (with Ola Al-Fares), which was aired by Pakistan Television on Saturday, he said, "Only mad people can think of this that the two nuclear armed countries coming face-to-face. People of India are very sensible but are being ruled by fanatics,” he emphasised.

About his government’s efforts on projecting Kashmir issue, PM Imran said, “We have highlighted the Kashmir issue at the international level and will continue doing so, where human rights, the Islamic Council resolution and UN resolutions are being flouted”.

He said that 8 million people (Kashmiris) were living in an open jail in Indian Occupied Kashmir where 900,000 Indian soldiers had kept them in the open jail. He added that “we raised this issue at the United Nations, presented it to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), and talked to Muslim countries about it, but if Muslim countries have their own relations with India, then we should not talk to anyone and can’t expect any positive response”.

Premier Imran said after the death of his mother, he turned to spirituality and changed his direction. He said: “I have always felt that Pakistan should be a welfare state in the style of the state of Madina. The state of Madina, formed by our Holy Prophet PBUH, was the first welfare state in human history”.

He pointed out that the resolution passed by the founders of Pakistan also had the same objective that the country should be a welfare state.

He said “Our ruling elite is corrupt and unless they are brought under the law, the country has no future because when the prime minister and ministers start stealing money from the country, the country cannot afford it.

“My struggle in Pakistan is against the corrupt ruling elite which has destroyed and pushed the country under debts”.

He said that he started his movement because on the one hand he wanted to make Pakistan a welfare state and on the other hand there should be rule of law. He said he wanted to fight corruption through the rule of law.

He said, “I know Western politics better than most people. My main opposition was to Afghanistan war because I think what they did in Afghanistan is insane. No Afghans were involved in 9/11 attacks, but they took over the country for Osama bin Laden and a few hundred people from al-Qaeda, I don't know what they wanted to achieve, if you were behind al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda was eliminated two years later”.

“I have always been a critic of the Afghan war, so I have been criticised. I also criticise the policies of my government. That does not mean that I am against Pakistan,” he added.

On the question of bringing about change in the country in 90 days after becoming the prime minister, Imran Khan said, “I have always said that the real corruption is done by the prime minister and the ministers, and that is what I said I will end corruption in 90 days. There is no corruption in the government. If anyone says that my ministers have committed corruption, I will investigate them first. An important example of this is the Sugar Commission in which action was taken against those involved”.

PM Imran Khan said that there are two types of corruption; one is done by the ministers and the prime minister and the other is done by the lower level officials. Therefore, it took time to eradicate corruption in society. “The example of the Holy Prophet is before us. He was honest and trustworthy. He always did justice. We should follow in his footsteps and take care of merit. Not worth it, we decided on merit,” he contended.

On the economic front, he said, “We have inherited fiscal deficits, inflation and debt from previous governments. If we cut costs to deal with them, the economy would be balanced. In the meantime, the coronavirus spread to economies around the world and affected worldwide, and we are the third nation in the world to have succumbed to the global epidemic”.

The prime minister said that Islamophobia was unfortunately spread due to the negligence of the leaders of Islamic countries. Terrorism has no religion, which is why Muslims around the world have faced Islamophobia, adding, “We should work together to avoid Islamophobia, not only Imran Khan but everyone should work for it. When our Prophet is mocked, we feel bad, it hurts. So when I addressed the General Assembly as the prime minister, I said that this is not tolerable for us”.

He said that people in our country love the Holy Prophet more and they are ready to give their lives for the sake of the Prophet (PBUH). That is why we decided that through the Rehmatul-lil-Alamin Authority, they should be trained to live according to the teachings of the Prophet PBUH.

Regarding the situation in Afghanistan and its impact on Pakistan, the PM said that Pakistan is in a very difficult situation. He said that the American people were thinking that the United States was bringing democracy in Afghanistan, educating women there, but suddenly the Taliban took over Afghanistan and the Afghan army surrendered, which shocked them. They are in a state of shock and are unable to make conscious decisions due to anger.

He said that Afghanistan was also suffering from economic crisis and if they were not helped, then there would be a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan due to which Afghanistan would once again be a victim of terrorism.