Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan’s tweets continued to be a source of amusement on Thursday. He again requested his countrymen to come out in the streets on Friday between 12-12.30 pm in solidarity with Kashmiri Muslims. Khan alleged that India’s actions tantamount to war crimes under the Fourth Geneva Convention. A bit rich coming from the country that exports terrorism to the world.
the daily injuring & killing of Kashmiri civilians, incl women & children – all part of the ethnic cleansing agenda of the Modi Govt. & it’s illegal annexation of IOK. The plan to change demography of IOK is a war crime under 4th Geneva Convention.
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) August 29, 2019
In absence of any real options on the table, theatrics appear to be the only choice left to Imran Khan. Earlier, terrorism was used by the Pakistani establishment as state policy but since Narendra Modi assumed the seat of Prime Minister, such misadventures have proved costly as evident from the surgical strike in Uri and the Balakot Air Strikes.
Before accusing India of war crimes, Khan had compared the Indian government with Nazis and accused them of being Hindu supremacists. Such allegations were followed by Pakistan’s traditional allies, the Arab countries, awarding the Indian Prime Minister with their highest honours. This time, too, like previous occasions, it appears that Khan’s tweets will be ignored entirely by world leaders.
Khan’s accusation of war crimes also rings rather hollow considering the conduct of the Pakistani Army in Balochistan. For a country that nurtures and harbours terrorists in its soil as state policy, its spurious accusations against India will naturally be taken with a pinch of salt by other countries.
Khan considers standing on streets a ‘strong message’ to Kashmiris that Pakistan stands resolutely in their support.
We must send a strong message to Kashmiris that our nation stands resolutely behind them. So I am asking all Pakistanis for half an hour tomorrow stop whatever you are doing & come out on the road to show solidarity with the Kashmiri people.
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) August 29, 2019
Even Pakistanis do not appear to believe that Khan’s proposal to come out on the streets will be able to achieve any significant goal at all. According to them, Khan is reducing Pakistan to a joke with such antics. On the face of it, Khan’s proposal appears to be directed towards managing the emotions of his own populace rather than achieve any strategic objective.
It also appears to be an indirect admission that Pakistan isn’t capable of doing much else at the moment apart from gathering on the streets for Kashmir. It also gives people the impression ‘at least the government is doing something’.
