"Threat of war under nuclear shadow looms over world again": PM writes for the NYT

"Imperative that world thinks beyond trade, business advantages regarding Kashmir issue," Imran Khan writes for the
30 Aug, 2019
  • "Imperative that world thinks beyond trade, business advantages regarding Kashmir issue," Imran Khan writes for the NYT
  • Titled, 'The World Can’t Ignore Kashmir. We Are All in Danger' Imran Khan raises alarm about recent developments in Kashmir
  • "If the world does nothing to stop the Indian assault on Kashmir and its people, two nuclear-armed states will get ever closer to a direct military confrontation," he writes.

In his op-ed on Kashmir and the recent developments in Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK), Prime Minister Imran Khan has warned the world of a similar threat of World War II in the world but this time under ‘a nuclear shadow’.

In an op-ed in New York Times, the premier wrote that since he assumed office last year, his foremost priorities was to work for lasting and just peace in South Asia. PM said with this aim he had multiple times endeavoured to have a dialogue with India. “Unfortunately, all my efforts to start a dialogue for peace were rebuffed by India,” the premier wrote.

The PM further wrote that while Pakistan was making peace overtures after a dog fight with its neighbor on February 27, India had been trying to put it in the blacklist at the Financial Action Task Force, which would push Pakistan toward bankruptcy.

“Evidently Narendra Modi had mistaken our desire for peace in a nuclear neighborhood as appeasement. We were not simply up against a hostile government. We were up against a ‘New India’ which is governed by leaders and a party that are the products of the Hindu supremacist mother ship, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, or the R.S.S,” the premier further wrote.

ICJ terms India scrapping Article 370 a ‘blow to rule of law, human rights’ in IoK

The PM continued that Modi’s first term as PM had been marked by lynching of Muslims, Christians and Dalits by extremist Hindu mobs. Then on August 5, in its most ‘brazen and egregious move’, Modi’s government altered the status of Indian-occupied Kashmir (IoK) through the revocation of Article 370 and 35A of the Indian Constitution, the premier wrote.

He added that this step by India is a violation of the United Nations Security Council resolutions on Kashmir and the Shimla Agreement between India and Pakistan. The premier also wrote about India’s violations in IoK by imposing a curfew and leaving the Kashmiris out of internet and landline services.

Warning the world that if it does nothing, the premier wrote that there will be consequences for it as two nuclear-armed states get ‘ever closer to a direct military confrontation’. He added that it is imperative that the international community think beyond trade and business advantages. “World War II happened because of appeasement at Munich. A similar threat looms over the world again, but this time under the nuclear shadow,” he added.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019

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