Many people have asked me why out of the two former Prime Ministers of Pakistan, Imran Khan and Nawaz Sharif, I prefer the former over the latter, when Imran Khan has always criticised India, while Nawaz Sharif, even in his recent interview to journalist Barkha Dutt, has advocated good relations with India.
In reply, I would like to say that Imran Khan has not criticised India but its Prime Minister Modi, whose politics consists of inciting and spreading hatred against Indian Muslims, a policy which has resulted in lynching of Indian Muslims, beating them brutally for not saying Jai Shri Ram, bulldozing their houses, and arresting and jailing scores of innocent Muslims for long periods ( e.g. Umar Khalid ). What is wrong in such criticism ? All right minded persons in India and Pakistan should do the same.
Apart from that, we should let bygones be bygones, and see the position as of today.
Today, Imran Khan, though incarcerated in Adiala jail for over an year, is bravely leading the struggle for restoration of democracy in Pakistan, after the Pakistan army unleashed a fascist reign of terror in Pakistan following the incidents of 9th May, 2023 ( which many say were stage managed ), in which about 14,000 innocent people were arrested on false charges, brutally beaten up, and locked up in jail for over an year in inhuman conditions, with the judiciary and media largely turning a Nelson’s eye to these horrors..
Why should Indians oppose fascism in Pakistan ? Because Pakistan is a neighbouring country, and so what happens there has repercussions in India too. The struggle against fascism. in which there is no freedom to speak, is common to both countries. Freedom of speech, though not an end in itself ( the end must be raising the standard of living of the people and giving them decent lives ), is an essential prerequisite in fighting against fascism. Unless there is freedom of speech how can the enlightened, patriotic, modern minded leaders guide the masses in the historical people’s struggle and people’s revolution for creating a political and social order in which the standard of living of the people steadily rises ?
In contrast, Nawaz Sharif, through his brother Shahbaz Sharif, who has been installed as the Prime Minister of Pakistan by the army, is collaborating with the Pakistan army, which has imposed fascism and an undeclared martial law in Pakistan. His talk of improving good relations with India is sheer hypocrisy, legerdemain, deceit and dissimulation, since the Pakistani generals, whom he supports ( through Shahbaz Sharif ), and who are the real rulers of Pakistan, hate India, and will never like to have good relations with India.
This is apart from the massive corruption by Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz, as revealed in the Panama Papers scandal
