Imran's hyper nationalism sounds pathetic

Pakistan must now be ashamed of its Prime Minister who seeks alibis to justify his failures. Not once did he explain to the people as to why he has failed in taking rights steps to shore up the economy of the country.

Nor did he attempt to pull his country out of the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force of the United Nations Security Council, nor did he do something to prevent it's from entering the enhanced list of the Asia Pacific Group (which in effect means a blacklist).

He is also a miserable failure as far as his international diplomacy is concerned. His lies as far as containing the terror groups are not going to help Pakistan not just in the long run but also in the short term.

An economy dependent on international monetary agencies bail-outs and the munificence of countries like Saudi Arabia and China and which cannot survive without the Chinese support for its very existence reflects the mess that the country is in today.

In addition to the economic crisis that the country faces due to lack of vision among its leadership, a World Bank arbitration court has ordered Imran Khan's to pay $5.8 billion in damages to a multinational mining giant, which discovered gold and copper deposits in Balochistan only to have its mining lease arbitrarily cancelled.

Pakistan also lost another arbitration case against the asset recovery firm Broadsheet LLC and has been ordered to pay $33 million in damages and costs.

The company had been hired by Pakistan's National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to search for the hidden assets of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's family. Broadsheet LLC's contract was also terminated without regard to international contract law.

Observers of Pakistan have listed the reason thus: "Both cases demonstrate how Pakistan's economy suffers when the hyper-nationalist sentiment of an intrusive and politicised military interferes with economic decision-making. Within Pakistan, the military establishment manages to get its capricious decisions endorsed by a subservient judiciary.

But Pakistan has faced a long streak of negative judgments in international arbitration tribunals and courts because of overly simplistic choices made by its generals".

But for his Army's intervention, Imran Khan would have seen good revenues instead of a 5.8 billion dollar penalty. It would shared the profits with Tethyan Copper, a joint venture between Chile's Antofagasta and Canada's Barrick Gold, and Pakistan would have shared the profits with the multinational corporation with mining experience.

Instead it decided to hand over the mining to one of its army's favourites', Samar Mabarakmand, who is described as a nuclear scientist, and Pak Army claimed 'such an eminent nuclear scientist would mine the copper to the benefit of the nation without having to pay anything to a foreign company".

It is hilarious. Right? However eminent a nuclear scientist be, what is his qualification for a mining job? And so, not a gram of copper came out of the mine so far.

This despite the fact that some of the mines had been handed over to the Chinese Government too. Patriotism is good for any country and helps it unite during certain times despite the imbalances in development and domestic problems.

But, hyper nationalism? No, it does not. Having failed on all counts and under duress from the United States vis a vis Afghanistan, Imran Khan now has adopted a shriller tone only to blackmail the world once again. Accusing India of false flagging terror concerns, he has not gone to the extent of holding out a nuclear war threat to the world.

Addressing the nation on Monday night over the Kashmir related issues, he blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government for the escalation of tensions between the two countries.

He concluded his speech by saying that if both the countries engage in a war now, there will be widespread devastation as both India and Pakistan are nuclear states. He also urged the international community to intervene in this matter.

"If this issue worsens to a war situation, then one must remember that both the countries are nuclear states. And no one wins a nuclear war. It is not like destruction will take place here, the repercussions will be felt across the world. Superpowers of the world must also take responsibility of this.

Whether the world supports us or not, Pakistan will go to any lengths now. We will be with them (Kashmiris) till the last breath," he said. He is not only threatening the world, but also his beloved Kashmiris with destruction, because they have opted to stay with India. He has unveiled a new doctrine for Kashmiris - be with us, or, be bombed. Should not the Kashmiris examine this carefully?

The reluctance of the Pakistani voices in admitting to the fact that terror operates from its soil and non-State actors are quite visible in that country is amazing. Referring to the Pulwama attack, he described it as an incident where "a Kashmiri man blew himself up" suppressing the fact that the terror outfit banned by his country owned it up repeatedly.

For him the RSS is a terrorist organisation (like the Congress believes in here) because Godse killed Mahatma and Modi is pursuing the RSS agenda. He also promised his nation that he would be taking up a second job now - that of being the ambassador of Kashmir. How should Pakistanis' react?

A Prime Minister who has miserably failed in doing something on the Kashmir issue and who never is in favour of a peaceful resolution to the issue and who has failed his country at every fora now wants to be an ambassador of Kashmiris.

Well, he sure is an ambassador of failure!He also added in the same breath that India had already played its trump card when it came to Kashmir and it does not have any more moves now. Did he not listen to the words of the Indian Home Minister, Amit Shah, carefully about the left-over agenda?

India's first priority is now removal of apprehensions and doubts of a section of Kashmiris while the Union Territory develops alongside the rest of India. Imran Khan should stop barking up the wrong tree.

He should also stop talking about the nuclear capacity of his nation. Above all, he should stop lying to his people.