Imran Khan made his maiden appearance at the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly at New York. The week spent in New York, covered 70 engagements, meeting with various heads of states, speaking at different seminars and conferences organized by various thinktanks.
Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India had also gone to great lengths to present his viewpoint defending his unilateral action of changing the special status of Indian Administered Kashmir, abrogating Articles 370 and 35A of the Indian Constitution, rescinding the special status of Kashmir and annexing Kashmir and Ladakh into the Indian Union.
A lesser leader than Imran would have been fazed by the September 22nd mammoth Indian political rally, titled “Howdy, Modi: shared Dreams, Bright Futures” event at the sprawling NRG Football Stadium in Houston. Drawing a fifty-thousand-crowd, Modi, arriving in tandem with the US President Donald Trump, drew deafening applause from the mostly Hindu audience at the gathering.’ Modi and Trump spoke of strengthened ties between India-US and addressed each other as “loyal friends”.
There was a sense of despondency expressed by Imran while talking to media, stating that he had spoken to different world leaders, who all expressed sympathy at the plight of the residents of Indian Administered Kashmir, suffering the adverse effects of a total lockdown of more than fifty days. It was disappointing for Imran that despite appreciating the severity of the human rights abuse in Indian Administered Kashmir, most world leaders were reluctant to chastise the aggressor because they perceived India as a major potential market for their goods and services. Indeed, amongst all the addresses of various speakers, apart from the Chinese Foreign Minister, the Turkish President, the Malaysian Prime Minister and Pakistan, no one else highlighted the Kashmir imbroglio. Each of these four speakers impressed upon the UN and India that the Kashmir issue must be resolved bilaterally between India and Pakistan in light of the UN Resolutions.
The passionate address of Imran Khan was that of a statesman bridging the Occident and Orient, since he has studied and played cricket in the UK and understands the sensitivities, likes and dislikes of both vastly different cultures. Expressing the rationale behind many Muslims’ reaction to lampooning their Holy Prophet, the Pakistani PM struck deep chords in the minds of critics of radicals.
Internationally, Imran Khan may have been hailed as an emerging international statesman but at home, the Prime Minister will have to sweep the Augean Stables with Herculean efforts, otherwise his dreams of serving Pakistan may be cut short
In the realm of poverty eradication, Imran presented the obverse view of corruption, turning the tables on those opulent states that become safe havens for looted wealth by leaders of under developed countries. It was proposed that international laws should be formulated to discourage looted wealth to be invested or deposited in western financial institutions.
The perils of extremism, fascism and genocide based on illusions of grandeur leading to racial supremacy were illustrated with graphic detail. As a climax, the Pakistani leader stressed that if the situation does not improve and Pakistan and India, who have been to war four times and engaged in limited conflicts on numerous occasions, could be pushed into a war involving nuclear weapons which would devastate the whole region and its fallout will affect the whole world.
While jubilations broke out in Indian held Kashmir after Imran’s address and despite total curfew and information blackout, news trickled in. Most Pakistanis cheered perceiving their leader to have delivered a powerful speech, which many consider the most important speech of his life, akin to Fidel Castro or Yasser Arafat’s historical addresses from the same podium.
The day after, as the Pakistani delegation returned home, a mysterious inflight breakdown in the navigational system of the VIP aircraft graciously provided by the Saudi Crown Prince, had to land back at New York. Imran Khan and his entourage chose to take the next commercial flight back.
Back home, the opposition is sharpening its knives to bring Imran down mostly with the vested interest of having the corruption charges against their party leaders dropped. A devastating earthquake in Azad Kashmir, the heinous murder of five children by a pedophile in Punjab, the garbage collection imbroglio at Karachi, the slowdown by various bureaucrats, complains by industrialists against the PM’s financial team, the onslaught of Dengue in the country, police brutality in Punjab, infighting among members of the PM’s Cabinet, a hostile Election Commission; exacerbated by bad governance are all enough to shake the apple cart of democracy. Internationally, Imran Khan may have been hailed as an emerging international statesman but at home, the Prime Minister will have to sweep the Augean Stables with Herculean efforts, otherwise his dreams of serving Pakistan may be cut short.
The warning regarding nuclear fallout may be perceived by some as a threat that nuclear weapons will be used in a war with India. World powers may interpret that a weak economy and politically unstable country should not have these weapons and may consider an international move to sanction Pakistan or pressurize it to give it up.
The last Pakistani Prime Minister who tried to stick to his guns maintaining nuclear power, was “made a horrible example of”!
The writer is a retired Group Captain of PAF. He is a columnist, analyst and TV talk show host