Imran Khan mocks Pak govt as Modi-Biden statement highlights cross-border terrorism, use of terrorist proxies

Pakistan's former prime minister Imran Khan mocked retired Pakistani army general Qamar Javed Bajwa, questioning the effectiveness of his "countless trips" to the United States while referring to a joint statement from the United States and India where Pakistan was strongly condemned for cross-border terrorism and the use of terrorist proxies.

This comes after the White House released a US-India joint statement with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden calling upon Pakistan to take immediate action "to ensure that no territory under its control is used for launching terrorist attacks".

In a tweet Friday afternoon, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf leader wrote, "Gen Bajwa along with his PDM cronies claimed that I had isolated Pakistan internationally."

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Here, Khan was referring to the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), a coalition of several political parties, which brought together rivals Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League (PML), to oust the former premier.

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"The question we want to ask him and PDM is that after a year in government and countless trips of Pakistan's FM to the US, the joint India/US statement reduces Pakistan to a promoter of cross-border terrorism in India and nothing more," Khan added in his tweet.

Continuing his rhetoric of calling the ruling government an imported government working at the behest of the United States, Khan stated that the experiment of this government has rendered Pakistan irrelevant on the international stage.

"So now the imported govt experiment has not just made Pakistan irrelevant internationally but our democracy, rule of law and the entire economic and institutional structure is also collapsing right in front of our eyes."

Khan's same-old Kashmir narrative

Khan also mentioned the same-old narrative of human rights abuses in Kashmir, which India categorically denies. Khan said he was disappointed because the issue was not mentioned in the US-India joint statement.

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"No balancing statement about the gross human rights abuse in Kashmir or the appalling treatment of minorities (esp Muslims) in India," Pakistan's former PM added in his tweet.

During a press conference with US President Joe Biden, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was asked about free speech, religious freedom, and the treatment of minority communities in India. In response, Modi strongly defended India's democratic values and rejected claims of discrimination against minority communities. He emphasised that India's democracy is ingrained in its DNA and its Constitution, stating that no Indian citizen is discriminated against based on caste, creed, religion, or gender.

Watch | Indian PM Modi and US President Biden stress democracy, minority rights in joint press conference

"We are a democracy...India & America both have democracy in our DNA. Democracy is in our spirit & we live it and it's written in our Constitution...So no question of discrimination on the grounds of caste, creed or religion arises. That is why, India believes in sabka saath, sabka vikas, sabka vishwas, sabka prayaas and walks ahead with it..,"

What didthe joint statement say?

The United States and India in a joint statement after the meeting between PM Modi and Biden said the leaders stand together "to counter global terrorism and unequivocally condemn terrorism and violent extremism in all its forms and manifestations."

President Biden and Prime Minister Modi reiterated the call for concerted action against all UN-listed terrorist groups including Al-Qa’ida, ISIS/Daesh, Lashkar e-Tayyiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), and Hizb-ul-Mujhahideen.

"They strongly condemned cross-border terrorism, the use of terrorist proxies and called on Pakistan to take immediate action to ensure that no territory under its control is used for launching terrorist attacks. They called for the perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai and Pathankot attacks to be brought to justice. They noted with concern the increasing global use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), drones and information and communication technologies for terrorist purposes and reaffirmed the importance of working together to combat such misuse," the statement added.

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