Prime Minister Imran Khan might be a somewhat controversial figure at home, but he’s built quite a following internationally. And one of the biggest reasons for his success, other than his past as a very famous sportsman, is the direct, no-nonsense content of his speeches. So it was at the UN where his rather long address, far too long by UN standards actually, kept much of the audience mesmerised for the good part of an hour and nobody, except perhaps the Indians, walked out in protest. And his more recent online address at the 20th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Council of Heads of State (SCO-CHS) was no different. This time he enlightened everybody about the dangers of terrorism, especially from the point of view of Pakistan as a frontline state in terms of suffering from the phenomenon and the wars it inspired. The PM is right that there is no better time than the present to take up this matter. The Afghan peace process ought to gather pace soon enough and usher in an era of peace and tranquility hopefully, but success is by no means guaranteed and it is actually very easy for the new bad guys on the scene, ISIS, and their masters to bring the whole thing down like a house of cards. The need for vigilance, therefore, has never been greater and what better forum to bring all this up than SCO, where all the region’s stakeholders gather, along with a few special guests, to see how things are going and what can be done to enhance mutual cooperation and commerce? The bit about tolerance was also spot on. PM Khan is always among the first heads of state to condemn all sorts of hate crimes and anti-religion activity, especially Islamophobia. That is why he was very right to bring up the issue of tolerance. This is after all the 21st century and people all over the world understand very well just what sort of religious sensitivities should not be challenged. So it’s better if everybody is understanding instead of provocative. We can see what harm can come when leaders of countries are careless about their remarks. French President Macron set a very bad example recently by first hurting the feelings of Muslims all over the world and then defending his position. Now he’s got his senior ministers shuttling to Muslim countries trying to undo all the damage that has already been done. Maybe it would have been better if he had heard PM Imran Khan about the matter before. *