Warning of a ‘bloodbath’ in Indian-held Kashmir, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday demanded immediate lifting of inhumane curfew and sought support of the world community in giving the Kashmiris their right to self-determination.
“This is a test for the United Nations. You guaranteed the right to self-determination to the people of Kashmir,” he reminded the gathering of world leaders at the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly. “The world hasn’t done anything on Kashmir,” he lamented. “What is going to happen will be a bloodbath. The people will come out. Has anyone thought what happens when there is a bloodbath? What do you think Kashmiris will think of the way they have been boxed in?” an emotionally charged prime minister asked the world community. “Even pro-India local leaders have been taken out of Kashmir as part of crackdown and 13,000 boys have been picked up and taken to unknown locations,” he revealed, and warned that Kashmir will be radicalised not because of religion but of being pushed up against the wall.
“They are already blaming us. They said we have 500 terrorists lined up to go in. Why would we send 500 terrorists when there are 900,000 troops? There will only be further cruelty on Kashmiris. It will give them the excuse to chant on the mantra of Islamic terrorism,” he said. “How do we (Pakistan) benefit from further increasing cruelty on the people of Kashmir?” he asked, and added that there is no other narrative left for India.
“What about the 1.3 billion Muslims watching this who know this is only happening because they are Muslims? What do you think they would think? What would the Jews of Europe think if 8,000 Jews were stuck? Are we children of a lesser God?” he said. “Muslims will become radicals because of this, not because of Islam. Because they see no justice,” he stressed.
“I have pictured myself locked up for 55 days. There are rapes, soldiers going into rooms. Would I want to let this humiliation continue? Won’t I pick up a gun. You are forcing people into radicalisation,” the prime minister said. “This is one of the most critical times. There will be a reaction to this and Pakistan will be blamed. Two nuclear countries will come face to face,” he feared. “Before we head there, the UN has a responsibility; this is why the UN came into being in 1945. You were supposed to stop this from happening. I feel like we are back in 1939 when Czechoslovakia was annexed,” he said. “Is the international community going to appease or stand up for justice or humanity?” he asked, and said the very first action that India needs to take is to lift curfew in occupied valley and release all detained prisoners.
Talking about Pulwama attack and its aftermath, the prime minister reminded the world that it was a local Kashmiri boy who attacked the convoy of the Indian Army but yet again, without any evidence, New Delhi blamed Islamabad. “It even bombed us on which the state had to retaliate,” he said.
On the matter of returning the captured Indian pilot, Imran Khan said that instead of taking it as a goodwill gesture, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi started making false claims of teaching Pakistan ‘a lesson’. On a hilarious note, he also mentioned that India ‘killed’ 10 of Pakistan’s trees which was ‘quite painful’.
The prime minister pointed out that Modi’s entire election campaign revolved around an anti-Pakistan narrative. “In his election campaign, Modi used words like ‘This is just a trailer. The movie is about to start’ and ‘I went into Pakistan and taught them a lesson’.” He said India did not respond to Pakistan’s peace overtures following Modi’s re-election and soon it was discovered that India was trying to push Pakistan into the blacklist of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). “That’s when we realised that there was an agenda and that agenda became obvious on August 5 when India went against 11 United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions which say that Kashmir is a disputed territory and the people of Kashmir have the right to self-determination,” he said.
“They went against Simla Accord – which is about sorting out our differences through bilateral means. They actually went against the Indian constitution. Illegally, they revoked Article 370 which gave Kashmir the special status and stationed an extra 180,000 troops there,” Imran Khan said, adding that total number of security forces in Kashmir are 900,000 and they have put eight million people in occupied valley under curfew. He said that the answer to how anyone can do something like this lies in the RSS ideology followed by Modi.
“Now I must explain what RSS is. Modi is a life member (of RSS). It is an organisation inspired by Hitler and Mussolini. They believe in racial purity and superiority. They believe they are an Aryan race. They believe in the ethnic cleansing of Muslims. They believe a golden age of Hindu rule was stopped by Muslims and then the British occupation. What kind of people bring in 900,000 troops for eight million people?” he said to an astounding applause from UNGA’s guest and press galleries. “What comes with Aryan superiority is arrogance and it makes people commit mistakes and do stupid, cruel things like what Modi has done. It is arrogance that has blinded Modi. Has he thought about what will happen after the curfew in Kashmir is lifted? What will he do? Does he think the people of Kashmir will quietly accept the status quo? Some 100,000 Kashmiris have died in the past 30 years because they were denied their right of self-determination. Eleven thousand women were raped,” he said.
On the issue of Afghanistan, the prime minister started with the history of Soviet-Afghan war and the global war on terror and pertinently spoke about the grave mistakes of the past. “The mujahideen were trained by Pakistan Army and they waged the freedom struggle. The Soviets called them terrorists and we called them freedom fighters,” he said. “In 1989, soviets retreated. The Americans packed up and left. Here we had indoctrinated them in jihad against foreign occupation and now that the US had taken over, we were supposed to tell them it’s no longer jihad,” he said.
“And so, the US turned against us and it was a nightmare,” he said. “Taliban were in Afghanistan, Al Qaeda was there; what did Pakistan have to do with it?” he asked. “When we came to power, we decided we would dismantle what was left. I know India keeps alleging that these groups are there. I welcome UN observers, see for yourself,” he said while inviting the world body to see for itself the ground realities of the region. “We now have a relationship with Afghanistan, Russia and then we wanted to mend fences with India. I have friends in India, and I love going to India. So, when my party came to power, we reached out to India and said let’s resolve differences through trade. Unfortunately, we didn’t make any headway. Our foreign minister was at the UNGA but they cancelled the meeting,” he said while expressing his deep disappointment on New Delhi’s attitude.
Talking about Islamophobia, Imran Khan pointed out that it has increased at an alarming rate. “It started after 9/11 and it started because certain western leaders equated Islam with terrorism,” he said. Questioning the use of the term ‘radical Islamic terrorism’, the prime minister said, “There is only one Islam.” He emphasised that the term radical Islamic terrorism used by leaders has caused Islamophobia and has caused pain for Muslims. “In European countries, it is marginalising Muslims, and this leads to radicalisation. Some of the terrorists were from marginalised Muslim communities. Muslim leaders have not addressed this issue,” he remarked. In reference to religiosity, he expressed that the basis of all religions is compassion and justice which differentiates us from the animal kingdom.
On the menace of money laundering, Imran Khan said every year billions of dollars leave the poorer countries and go towards rich countries, siphoned off by the ruling elites of the western world. He was of the view that this is gravely affecting the developing world which is suffering from impoverishment owing to an ever increasing rich-poor gap. He also focused on lack of serious attitude on part of the international community which, from his perspective, largely failed to tackle money laundering and terror financing. “How can poor countries spend money on human development?” he asked. “Unless the rich countries intend to build walls to stop economic refugees from coming in, there must be a deterrent.” On an interesting note, he also took a jibe at certain political opponents back home in a discreet but obvious manner. “Corrupt elites must not be allowed to park their money (abroad). Why do we have these tax havens?” he stressed.
On the issue of paying taxes, the prime minister remarked, “Why shouldn’t rich people pay taxes? Why are they legal, these secret accounts? Sooner or later there will be a crisis if the rich keep getting richer and the poor poorer,” he warned, and asked the UN to be on the frontline with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in finding the solutions. Expressing his views on climate challenge, the prime minister expressed disappointment with the lack of seriousness in this regard by the international community. “Perhaps some of the leaders who can do a lot do not realise the seriousness of the situation. There are a lot of ideas, but they are nothing without funding,” he said, and pointed out that Pakistan is amongst the top 10 countries that are most effected by climate change. “Since most of the country relies on glacial waters of the Himalayan mountains, the world needs to collectively tackle climate change as one country cannot do anything,” he maintained.
