Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s visit to the United States and his maiden address to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) was desperately portrayed as a successful visit by local Pakistani media outlets like the Dawn, Tribune and the New York Times. However, it was not hidden from the world that Maleeha Lodhi and Imran Khan acted in unison as they left no stone unturned to humiliate Pakistan at the UNGA. Imran Khan did a rant against India for over 50 minutes without even paying heed to the time limit at the UNGA. His speech was largely derided as he yet again threatened the world with a nuclear war and invoked ‘jihad’ against India.
While Pakistan was humiliated on a global scale thanks to Imran Khan’s sheer incompetence, his government continued to claim that it was a successful visit but the mirage soon fell off as Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN, Maleeha Lodhi was sacked and was replaced by Munir Akram infamously known as the ‘Diplo-basher’ thanks to his violent past. Maleeha Lodhi’s personal gaffes and Imran Khan’s terrible speech at the UNGA made it imperative for Pakistan to change its ambassador to the UN, and in desperation or in eliberation, Imran Khan replaced 66-year old Maleeha Lodhi with a controversial India-hater Munir Akram, who is 74.
The Imran Khan government has now moved to clarify that Lodhi wasn’t sacked but was replaced as her tenure was completed, but no one is buying the hollow clarification. It appears as a planted ‘alternative’ fact meant for public consumption.
Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Faisal tweeted that Lodhi had “completed her tenure” and “There is no truth whatsoever in insinuations that Dr Lodhi was ‘removed’ for any reason” and quoted Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, the spokesman said the outgoing envoy “served Pakistan with distinction and commitment and organised the Prime Minister’s successful UNGA visit with skill and dedication.” Yet again this has been nothing but white lies by the Pakistan government as Lodhi was sacked more than a year before her tenure ended as the country’s permanent representative to the UN.
Imran Khan and his government showed their inherent misogynist characteristics as they sought to replace Lodhi with Akram who had caused great humiliation to Pakistan in his previous stint as Pakistan’s permanent envoy to the UN in 2003 where he was reported for a domestic violence incident in which he beat up his live-in partner Marijana Mihic by banging her head on a wall in an allegedly drunken state. The situation became so serious that the US State Department asked Pakistan to withdraw his diplomatic immunity after New York City prosecutors sought to bring misdemeanour assault charges against him.
The girlfriend basher, Munir Akram is known for his toxic commentary against India and often invoking the nuclear bogey, quite in line with Imran Khan’s obsession with nuclear war. While Lodhi worked in tandem with both civilian and military regimes, Akram is expected to have a more India-centric role to push a toxic narrative in an attempt to mainstream Imran Khan’s rhetoric.
By appointing Munir Akram a rabid India baiter, Khan has hired someone who can further his nefarious agenda and indulge in war-mongering. Akram often is known for his anti-India comments and has allowed his hatred for India to overtake Pakistan’s strategic interests and sabotaged the then Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s address at the UNGA. The Vajpayee and then Manmohan Singh – Musharraf era bonhomie was the closest that India and Pakistan have ever gotten to ensure peace and stability in the region and the Singh and Musharraf were set to meet at the sidelines of the UNGA meet in 2005 as admitted by the then Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri in his book ‘Neither A Hawk Nor A Dove’.
However, India refused to meet Musharraf and Kasuri after his speech at the UNGA which targeted India as he said that India was trying to delegitimise the Kashmir struggle and was taking advantage of international anti-terrorist sentiment that became prevalent after 9/11, despite Musharraf extending an olive branch just a year ago and even start a dialogue on Kashmir. Incidentally, the speech was written by Akram, who was a rabid India-basher, and neither Musharraf nor Kasuri had vetted it beforehand.
Akram in the past has made extremely vile statements and has labelled India as the “sick man of Asia” and called former Indian foreign minister Salman Khurshid as “kirai ka Muslim” and ironically claimed that India was the “mother of terrorism”.
Imran Khan with the appointment of Akram has made it clear that he never wants peace with India as such an appointment will only make things more ugly and hostile between India and Pakistan. Imran has appointed a spitting image of himself with the appointment of Akram who will do Khan’s dirty work and also aid Khan in humiliating Pakistan at every nook and corner of the world.