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Thursday March 28, 2024

PM Imran Khan praises Indian PM Narendra Modi’s foreign policy

By Rafique Mawngat
April 02, 2022
Pr4ime Minister Imran Khan addressing the Islamabad Security Dialogue, Islamabad on April 1, 2022. - PID
Pr4ime Minister Imran Khan addressing the Islamabad Security Dialogue, Islamabad on April 1, 2022. - PID

LAHORE: Imran Khan praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s foreign policy while addressing a public rally in Malakand, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He said, “I would like to praise our neighbouring country Hindustan for its foreign policy. India’s foreign policy is free and independent, and its only aim is for the betterment of its own people.

The people and political leaders of Pakistan were themselves surprised when they watched their prime minister praising India’s foreign policy before a crowd of thousands of supporters. It is amusing to note that Imran Khan, who, at one point of time, used to deride Narendra Modi as Hitler and Nazi leader at international forums, has now praised his foreign policy, at a time when his government is on the verge of collapse.

On Monday, Indian Foreign Secretary Harshvardhan Shringla reacted to Khan’s remark by saying, “India has received across the board praise from different countries for its foreign policy, and our record speaks for itself. It would be wrong to say that only one leader has praised India’s foreign policy.”

India’s policy was finely tuned. It did not openly oppose Russia but also refrained from openly supporting the Russian attack. Similarly, India did not publicly oppose the stand taken by the West, and instead called for an immediate cessation of hostilities and resumption of dialogue, between Russia and Ukraine.

Though India has allied with America and is part of the Quad alliance, India is neutral on the Ukraine-Russia war issue. India has decided to import crude oil from Russia despite US sanctions. The manner in which Prime Minister Modi pursued a neutral foreign policy during the Russia-Ukraine war and kept India’s own interest as paramount, speaks for itself. Modi did not come under pressure from the US and the Western countries. In contrast, Narendra Modi did not kowtow to any big power to get favours for India, nor did it India come under any pressure, even when it purchased S-400 missiles from Russia, despite US sanctions.

On the contrary, Modi established friendly relations with countries like Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Oman and Jordan, which were traditional friends of Pakistan. Saudi Arabia has stopped giving loans to Pakistan, and UAE has stopped raising the Kashmir issue despite prodding from Pakistan.

Most of the Islamic nations have now changed their attitude towards India and the situation has come to such a pass that even opposition leaders in Pakistan have now started asking their Prime Minister not to give Modi’s examples. These opposition leaders allege that the world is now laughing at Pakistan because of Imran Khan’s incompetence.