A desperate Imran Khan again turned towards India’s opposition party, Congress as hope to draw the international community’s attention toward the Kashmir issue following the abrogation of Article 370. Launching a renewed attack on India, Pakistan Prime Minister Khan said that the curfew in Kashmir is still not lifted. “Even the Congress party in India has commented that poor people have been shut inside for 50 days. No one knows what’s happening with the political prisoners,” Khan said on the sidelines of the UNGA session in New York.
This is not the first time Pakistan has tried to piggyback on Congress while trying to make a point on Kashmir. Earlier this month, Pakistan’s anti-India dossier to the UNHRC featured former Congress President Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders. The dossier quoted remarks made by Rahul Gandhi in the aftermath of India’s decision to abrogate Article 370 for Jammu and Kashmir where he had taken to Twitter to castigate Jammu and Kashmir authorities and had cast doubts on the Indian government.
Rahul Gandhi had said that it had been 20 days since people of Jammu & Kashmir “had their freedom and civil liberties curtailed”. He could be heard speaking to the security forces that he would like to go to ‘any area which is peaceful’ and had concluded his video by saying that “it is very clear that things are not normal in Jammu & Kashmir.” The former Congress President Rahul Gandhi had also ‘noted’ that “people dying” in Jammu & Kashmir, in light of events “going very wrong here”.
It’s been 20 days since the people of Jammu & Kashmir had their freedom & civil liberties curtailed. Leaders of the Opposition & the Press got a taste of the draconian administration & brute force unleashed on the people of J&K when we tried to visit Srinagar yesterday. pic.twitter.com/PLwakJM5W5
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) August 25, 2019
Prior to this too, Pakistan had written to the UN accusing India of carrying out human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir and had used this statement by Rahul Gandhi and other leftist leaders to further its narrative.
Earlier this year following the Pulwama terror attack where a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist killed 40 CRPF jawans by ramming an explosive-laden car in the convoy, Pakistan had used the stand taken by Rahul Gandhi and his political cronies to further its agenda against India. Pakistani analysts and strategists in their media debates had even named the Congress as a ‘sympathiser’ of Pakistan. Recently, Imran Khan had even copied Rahul Gandhi’s favourite lines against RSS and the BJP and had stated that the RSS and PM Modi are planning a Nazi-like imposition of Hindutva ideology in India.
However, yesterday, Khan expressed his ‘disappointment’ at being repeatedly snubbed by the international community and failing to gather any support for Pakistan on the Kashmir issue. “I am disappointed by the international community. If eight billion Europeans or Jews or even eight Americans were put under siege, would the reaction have been the same? You think Kashmiris will quietly accept that Kashmir has been annexed?” he told the mediapersons on the sidelines of UNGA.
Pakistan has vowed to rake up the abrogation of Article 370 issue when Pakistan PM Khan addresses the UNGA session this Friday.
