The air strikes by Bharat in response to the brutal Pulwama suicide bombing by Pak-based terror group JeM, and the subsequent tensions that broke out with Pakistan, have finally triggered a churning within Pakistan with several sane voices questioning why the country is so isolated today and viewed as a hub of state-sponsored Islamic terror.
Pakistani Foreign Minister (FM) Shah Mahmood Qureshi has been cornered possibly for the first time on two separate interviews with Western channels, on the question of why so many UN proscribed terror organizations operate with impunity on Pakistani soil, and why men like Masood Azhar are walking free.
In a BBC interview, Qureshi claimed there is ‘confusion’ on whether JeM carried out the Pulwama attack, when the interviewer tells him that the terror group has claimed responsibility and even issued a press release on their official letterhead. The Pakistan FM said that the leadership group has been contacted and they have denied it. When the interviewer asked who contacted the JeM leadership, Qureshi tries to evade the question by saying “people over here…known to them”.
This man is our foreign minister. Do I need to say more? pic.twitter.com/3pfHaNUSNx
— Murtaza Solangi (@murtazasolangi) March 2, 2019
In an interview with CNN, Qureshi asks for ‘solid evidence’ to be furnished against Masood Azhar so that Pakistani Govt. can convince the courts and people of Pakistan about his guilt. He also says that Azhar is ‘very unwell’.
Masood Azhar is in Pakistan, he is very unwell, he's unwell to the extent that he can't leave house because he is really unwell. That's the information I have. If they have evidence share with us so that we can convince the people and the judiciary: Shah Mahmood Qureshi. pic.twitter.com/kngJB5x1BT
— Naila Inayat (@nailainayat) March 1, 2019
Interestingly, a Pakistani journalist claimed that the same Shah Mahmood Qureshi had denied even the presence of Masood Azhar led terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed on Pakistani soil, a few days back.
The Foreign Minister @SMQureshiPTI in reply to my question on 26th Feb ‘19 in his presser denied Jaish e Muhammad’s presence in Pakistan and instead raised questions on my patriotism/Pakistaniat – Now he admits at BBC – Simple question, Did he lie to me or did he lie to BBC? https://t.co/WJ4XWgUpu6
— Anas Mallick (@AnasMallick) March 2, 2019
Several sane voices in Pakistan are now speaking up and questioning why Pakistan today has become an international pariah due to its support of terror groups.
Why can't we arrest Azhar Masood? Why are we asking for credible evidence when we have put several politicians behind bars for months without a shred of evidence? Why can't the sick terrorist be treated in jail like a former PM is? Why do Hafiz Saeed and Rao Anwar remain free?
— Rubina Saigol (@RubinaSaigol) March 2, 2019
Pakistan needs to recognise, introspect on extremism in the country
We need to review past policies, something that’s already been done but execution has been lacking
We need to take robust action against organisations using Pakistani soil for acts of terror
Déjà vu, anyone? https://t.co/vZbnzUAW5l
— Reema Omer (@reema_omer) March 3, 2019
"We are isolated in the world. Which country is on our side today? It is high time that we figure out who is responsible for terrorism in Pakistan." https://t.co/E630OcMV3x
— Naila Inayat (@nailainayat) March 3, 2019
Some are taking to dark humor to relieve the enormous stress that Pakistan is under because of their Government’s defense of global terrorists like Masood Azhar and Hafiz Saeed.
Last few days have been very hard, I'd been under a lot o stress, internal situation of state is precarious, inflation on an all time high, prices of daily use items going through the roof, incomes stagnated, but then i saw highlights of 92' WC, now i'm lite as feather.
— Waleed Javaid (@waleedjavaidd) March 2, 2019
Others have raised how cross-border terrorism has been endorsed by all past Pakistani PM/Presidents, and especially Pervez Musharaff, who despite being the architect of the Kargil invasion was built up as a ‘rational’ man by Bharat’ liberal establishment.
Armed incursion in Indian Kashmir by nonstate actors was formalised by Musharraf thru Kargil that no one talks about. A simple parliamentary question asked whether inquiry had been held in Kargil was then disallowed on ground “it is secret and sensitive”. The question begs answer
— Farhatullah Babar (@FarhatullahB) March 3, 2019
Is protecting people like Masood Azhar and Hafiz Saeed really worth it? I think this is a serious introspective moment for our Government and the Establishment.
And for The Who people consider @husainhaqqani a traitor, what do you call this guy? 👇🏽
— Khurram Qureshi (@qureshik74) March 2, 2019
In Pakistan, abrogator of the Constitution like Musharraf & mass murderer like Rao Anwar enjoy total impunity, but the name of Manzoor Pashteen, who is the most popular leader of oppressed Pashtuns, is put on Exit Control List (travel ban). #RemovePashteenFromECL pic.twitter.com/WsgBjBWWMN
— Afrasiab Khattak (@a_siab) March 2, 2019
Others questioned the vice-like grip the Pakistani deep state (ISI) has over the country’s media, which is nowhere near as free as Indian media.
The current proceedings are totally controlled by the army; Pakistani journalists are not allowed to freely investigate what happened in Balakot. We have better information from foreign websites like Bellingcat.
— Jahanzeb Hussain (@hussainjahanzeb) March 2, 2019
Is the purge of dissenting voices on Pakistani media that distant a memory that we are claiming it to be better than Indian media? Theirs is a problem of media ethics, ours is far worse, a ban on dissent.
— Imran Khan (@iopyne) March 2, 2019
The liberal media and intelligentsia of Bharat has suppressed such voices from Pakistan – in their desperate drum-beating of #SayNoToWar (which Bharat is anyway not planning, as our intent in the 2016 surgical strikes and now Balakot air strike was only to destroy terror camps), they have conveniently forgotten that there is a growing constituency in Pakistan saying #SayNoToTerrorism, which is a direct result of the no-nonsense policy employed by Bharat and our growing influence on the global stage. Our left-liberals and Lutyens Delhi are so angry seeing their power and influence curtailed under the Modi Government, that they have lost all sense of balance.
There are other reports that Azhar is suffering from renal failure or liver cancer, and is undergoing treatment in a Pakistani military hospital. However, all such talk should be taken with a large sack of salt, as such psyops are standard operating procedure for the Pakistani deep state.
News of Masood Azhar being sick is floating for months now. This game is not new. ISI kept alive rumours of Osama bin Laden undergoing periodic dialysis for years to mislead western agencies. Sleuths were looking him at hospitals while he was chilling at ISI's safe house.
— Divya Kumar Soti (@DivyaSoti) March 2, 2019
We need to apply consistent pressure on Pakistan going forward – militarily, economically & diplomatically – till we have incontrovertible proof that their Army has permanently given up the use of jihadi terror as a state policy against us. Because the Pakistani Army’s jihad against Bharat is not limited to Jammu & Kashmir- it extends to the whole of Bharat, and they are already inciting separatist movements in the North East and Islamic terror across states like UP, Maharashtra, Telangana, Tamil Nadu etc. If this terror infrastructure is not destroyed in the coming decade, it is only a matter of time before Kashmir-like jihad flames starts burning in other states with significant Muslim population that Pakistan and other Muslim countries are fast radicalizing.
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