Pakistan has once again shown that it is a treacherous neighbor which only speaks of peace and at the same time indulges in blatant anti-India propaganda. The newly appointed Pakistan prime minister has been claiming that he wants better and peaceful relations with India and at the same time Pakistan has issued postage stamps commemorating Kashmiri terrorist Burhan Wani as a freedom fighter.
Earlier, Imran Khan had written a letter to Prime Minister Modi in which he admitted that the two countries have, “an undeniably challenging relationship”. He even promised that Pakistan is ready to discuss the issue of terrorism. He endorsed Prime Minister Modi’s view that the only way forward was “constructive engagement”. Imran Khan even invoked former Prime Minister Vajpayee’s efforts to forge better relations with Pakistan. He proposed a meeting between the foreign ministers of the two countries at the sidelines of the upcoming UN General Assembly in New York. He further added, “They can explore the way forward, especially the holding of the SAARC Council of Ministers followed by the SAARC Summit in Islamabad. The summit will offer an opportunity for you to visit Pakistan and for us to re-start the stalled dialogue process.”
Imran Khan had clearly signified his intention of taking things forward and resuming the peace process. India too responded positively to his invitation and a foreign minister level talks was scheduled to take place in New York later this month on the sidelines of United Nation General Assembly (UNGA) 2018. However, there was a sharp turn of events in the next 24 hours. Pakistan’s Philately Bureau released 20 postage stamps commemorating 20 slain terrorists like Burhan Wani and hailing them as freedom fighters. The move was clearly aimed at irking India. Pakistan released these stamps to highlight the plight of Kashmiris who are fighting “the Indian oppression”. What is even more absurd, provocative and outrageous is the fact that these stamps have been released on ‘Kashmir Martyrs Day’. It does not come as a surprise that India cancelled the minister level talks with Pakistan.
The ministry of external affairs (MEA) issued a strong statement condemning Pakistan’s unacceptable attitude and cancelling talks with Pakistan. It stated, “Since yesterday, the announcement of a meeting between foreign ministers of India and Pak, two deeply disturbing developments have taken place. The brutal killing of our security personnel by Pakistan entities and the recent release of series of 20 postal stamps by Pakistan in which it had glorified terrorists, has forced India to cancel the talks.” MEA spokesperson did not spare even the Pakistani prime minister, Imran Khan and went on to state that, “It’s obvious that behind Pakistan’s proposal for talks to make a fresh beginning, evil agenda of Pakistan stands exposed & true face of new Prime Minister of Pakistan has been revealed to world in his first few months in the office.” Therefore, India has sent a very strong message across by reiterating that unless Pakistan stops cross border terrorism along with its anti-India propaganda, talks cannot take place at any level. This is a marked departure in Pak policy when compared to the previous governments. Given the strict Pak policy that India is pursuing and the manner in which Pakistan has continued with its malicious propaganda, it does not come as a surprise that the talks were cancelled. With this, the myth that Pakistan’s newly appointed Prime Minister Imran Khan has a soft corner for India and that he is different from his predecessors also stands debunked.
