–Imran slams Indian government, says the ‘fascist state’ poses a threat to its neighbours
–Premier says security forces must be dealt with through the government, not the media
ISLAMABAD: Days after the United States and India signed an agreement allowing the latter to access the former’s satellite data crucial for targeting missiles and other military assets, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday said that Islamabad expected an “even-handed treatment” from Washington with respect to New Delhi.
Referring to the Kashmir dispute in a wide-ranging interview to a German publication, Der Spiegel, the prime minister noted the South Asian region was a hotspot that could flare up at any time, saying the long-standing dispute needed international attention.
PM Imran, while observing that India has territorial disputes with almost every neighbour, said, “India is a threat to its neighbours, to China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and to us [Pakistan].”
“It has the most extremist, racist government on the subcontinent. It is a fascist state, inspired by the Nazis in the 1920s and 30s,” he added.
“That’s why,” the premier said, “we [Pakistan] expect the US, as the strongest country in the world, to be even-handed, whoever becomes president.”
He also called out the US’ push for a global alliance against China. During his recent trip to India and Sri Lanka, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who was flanked by Secretary of Defence Mark Esper, accused the Chinese Communist Party of being a “predator”, ensnaring small countries into debt traps and making irredentist claims on territory that fall within the boundaries of other nations.
“The US thinks India will contain China, which is a completely flawed premise,” PM Imran said.
When asked if he was drawing an “extreme comparison” between the Indian government and the Nazi regime in Germany, he mentioned the writings of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, “the intellectual forerunner of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party”.
“They openly admired Hitler,” he observed. “The Nazis wanted to get rid of the Jews. The RSS wanted to rid India of the Muslims.”
Discussing his recent meetings with Afghan politicians, the premier said that Pakistan did not have any favourites in the war-torn country.
“Our only interest is that the future government in Kabul does not allow India to operate from there against Pakistan,” he added.
Referring to the American war against terrorism, he said that Pakistan had “nothing to do with the terror attacks on 9/11”.
“Al Qaeda was in Afghanistan. After 9/11, we should not have allowed our army to become involved in the war. I opposed it from day one. The US put pressure on us, and the military dictator General Pervez Musharraf succumbed to that pressure,” he added.
When the interviewer pointed out that, at the time, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) were the only countries supporting the Taliban, PM Imran recalled, “Don’t forget, Osama bin Laden was a hero in the 1980s. He supported the Mujahideen against the Soviets in Afghanistan, and he was backed by both the CIA [Central Intelligence Agency] and Pakistan.”
“It was Pakistan’s right to recognise the Taliban but Pakistan had no control over the Taliban. When Pakistan asked the Taliban to hand over Bin Laden to the Americans, they refused,” he added.
The premier said that he admired China’s governance model since it had helped Beijing take 700 million people out of poverty within a span of 40 years.
“This is the model I want to emulate in Pakistan,” he said. “Despite not having electoral politics, they are good at bringing the best people to the top in their country. It’s a system based on meritocracy.”
He also noted that Beijing had put 450 ministerial-level officials in jail on corruption charges.
“Countries aren’t poor because of a lack of resources,” he said. “It’s because of corruption among the leadership.”
“As we know from the Panama Papers, the same is true for Pakistani politicians. Millions of dollars went into properties in the most expensive areas in London, siphoned off from this country,” he added.
When asked about Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), the 11-party anti-government alliance of opposition parties, the premier said, “They want to blackmail me into getting them out of corruption cases. But there’s no way I will ever relent.”
“We are facing the biggest trade gap in our history. Our imports were $60 billion but exports were only $20 billion. The rupee is falling and there’s inflation because we import fuel. Everything is getting more and more expensive, even electricity,” he added.
“We have to raise our revenues so we have to increase our tax base. We’re going through these painful reforms and all these guys from the opposition get together. They are worried that once we stabilise things, they will all end up in jail because of huge corruption cases,” he further said.
Reflecting on the changing nature of the Arab-Israel conflict, he pointed out that every country had its own foreign policy priorities.
“As for Pakistan, the founder of the nation, Muhammed Ali Jinnah, a brilliant man, spoke in the 1940s about the Palestinian situation as a huge violation of human rights,” he said, adding, “Pakistan still takes this view. Unless there’s a just settlement [of the Palestine issue], we cannot recognize Israel.”
On the government’s decision to introduce laws prohibiting criticism of the military, the premier said that there was more freedom of speech in Pakistan “than almost any Western country,” and all criticism “based on truth and facts” was accepted.
“There will be another way of dealing with the security forces – not through the media, but through the government,” he added. “I will speak to the army chief if I think there’s something wrong. There are always human rights violations in military operations and sometimes we speak about it when it happens.”
“But this should not be done in public. When soldiers are risking their lives, you cannot demoralise them in public,” he further said.
Commenting on the relatively low number of coronavirus cases and deaths in Pakistan, PM Imran said that “smart lockdowns” were the key to curbing the spread of the virus.
“Almost half of the population survives on daily and weekly wages. Therefore, we imposed a ‘smart lockdown’ [and] only restricted areas where we discovered an outbreak. We didn’t stop supply lines,” he said.
“We didn’t stop the agriculture sector and quickly reopened the construction sector because that’s what employs the most people in urban areas. That saved us,” he also said, adding that India, on the other hand, restricted people to their homes in poor areas.”
“They have a lot of poverty now, same in Iran,” he further said.
Asked whether the government has a clear picture of the pandemic in the country, the prime minister replied, “Around 180,000 to 200,000 people are tested every week and our national coordination team looks at multiple statistics and has a very clear composite picture of the epidemic.”
“From peak numbers in June, we saw a steady decline in cases, positivity and deaths across the country until late August. Now, we’re hoping to survive the second wave,” he added.
The prime minister, on a lighter note, said that his wife, Bushra Maneka, was his “soulmate”.
“Only a fool doesn’t talk about everything with his wife. She has great wisdom. I discuss everything with her,” he said.
“She is my soulmate. She is my companion. I would not have survived without her,” he added.
