Imran Khan's Alarming Rhetoric On Nuclear War
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
View all posts by this Author
By Sunil Garodia
About the Author
Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.
View all posts by this Author
It is surprising that The New York Times allowed op-ed space to Imran Khan, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, to issue a nuclear war threat to the world. His article was without logic and he chose to accuse India of readying itself to pull the trigger without providing any solid reasons. He failed to tell the world that Pakistan has continued to occupy more than half of Jammu & Kashmir illegally despite the whole territory being ceded to India by its last ruler. Now, with India having legally reorganized its own territory, Pakistan is trying to interfere in India's internal matter and is asking the rest of the world to help it.
It is not a secret that India had embarked on developing nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, mainly as an alternative source of energy. The vastness of the country meant that to satisfy the needs of its population and the growing industry, the nation needed to look at non-traditional sources of energy. But when Pakistan surreptitiously developed nuclear weapons, Indian was left with no alternative but to include military applications in its nuclear programme. It was largely meant as a deterrent. But Pakistan has made it no secret that if push comes to shove, it will always be the first to press the nuclear button. It has long used its nuclear capability to threaten the world and get many kinds of doles it would otherwise have not got.
With the state of the economy of his country, the ongoing turmoil in Afghanistan where Pakistan is deeply involved and the fact that Pakistan's generals will be more than happy to push the nuclear button, Imran Khan should have displayed more maturity than threatening India with a nuclear war. He must understand that such alarming rhetoric has no place in the world today. India has no reason to start a war with Pakistan unless the rogue neighbor ups the ante and does something foolish. Even the opposition parties in Pakistan have advised Khan to concentrate on Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) instead of meddling in J&K. Given the fact that the Pakistani army dictates terms in such matters, it is quite possible that the generals may yet force the civilian government into another war with India over J&K, but that would be a disaster that should not happen.
