Over the years Pakistan has accumulated a disastrous international reputation due to its shameful nefarious activities. It has been put in the gray list of the FATF and has been begging from the IMF and other countries for the approval of their loans. It has suffered another shameful embarrassment adding to its ever growing list. Recently the Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko arrived on a three-day visit to Pakistan on Monday (25 November 2024). During this, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met him in Islamabad. At the meeting Sharif once again began his Kashmir rant, but was rebuffed by Lukashenko who made it clear that he had not come to discuss any political issue.
According to reports in Pakistan, during the meeting, Shehbaz Sharif called Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko a special friend and then raised the issue of Kashmir in front of him. He wanted Lukashenko to make an anti-India statement on the Kashmir issue, but the President of Belarus was in no mood to get involved in Pakistan’s deranged politics. Lukashenko refused to speak on this and said, “Leave Kashmir aside, I have come here only to talk about business and bilateral cooperation.”
Forget Kashmir, let’s talk about business : President of Belarus to Pakistani PM pic.twitter.com/NnUwDKXe9e
— Mr Sinha (@MrSinha_) November 29, 2024
Sharif looked visibly uncomfortable on hearing this response from the President of Belarus. Breaking protocol Shehbaz Sharif had reached the airport himself to welcome the President of Belarus perhaps in the hopes of building some kind of a personal relationship. Pakistan regularly uses international platforms to propagate their fake Kashmir narrative, but Lukashenko’s direct answer shows that not all countries are ready to entertain this behavior.
This is not the first international embarrassment Pakistan has faced on the Kashmir issue. Recently, Pakistan’s Home Minister Mohsin Naqvi also made a statement which caused tremendous uproar. In fact, when he was asked whether the people of Kashmir are protesting against the arrest of Imran Khan, he replied that Kashmir is a ‘foreign land’. Incidentally Imran Khan himself used many international podiums to deliver speeches on Kashmir and its freedom, and today he himself is behind bars implicated in dozens of cases.
