While some of them could be joking, there is no denying that Indian media anchors and analysts and social media influencers find the openly anti-military tirades of Pakistan’s former prime minister irresistible.
By Zubair Khan
ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan’s loud and sustained invective against the Pakistani military seems to have endeared him to the media and chattering classes of Pakistan’s archenemy India.
Indian media’s romance with Imran Khan is not new, and his long march merits coverage as a political event in the neighbouring country anyway. However, the latest spike in Khan’s screen time and social media mentions in India looks like a textbook illustration of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”.
ABP News’ star anchor Rubika Liyaquat recently invited Fayyaz Chauhan, a second-tier leader of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), to her show.
And she gushed, “[Khan] has become my most favourite as he has his eyes set on exposing the ISI’s secrets. It is our agenda to expose the ISI and you are doing it well, so thank you”.
Khan‘s belligerent rhetoric against the military began this April after the army chief Gen Qamar Bajwa declined to extend him unconstitutional help to fend off a parliamentary vote of no confidence, which led to his ouster from power.
However, it has taken a turn for the worse since the unprecedented joint press conference by two top generals of the Pakistan army, who sought to discredit Khan’s various conspiracy theories considered detrimental to the country’s foreign policy, without naming Khan.
On Saturday, as Khan hurled threats and abuse at the chiefs of the Pakistan army and the Inter-Services Intelligence Agency (ISI) in his speech on the long march trail, several Indian news channels ran his speech live.
Indian media is also happy with Khan’s assertion that Pakistan is a “slave country”.
Some prominent talking heads were even heard proclaiming India needs not to move a finger against Pakistan after Khan’s decision to go after the military and the ISI.
Blogger Gaurav Arya, a former Indian army major, can be seen in a video gone viral over social media saying, “Imran khan should be the prime minister of Pakistan for the next ten years to fulfil our dream by splitting Pakistan in four parts”.
Arya is known to have said that Indian military and spy agencies would not be able to undermine the credibility of the Pakistan army even after spending billions, the way Khan has done.
India’s Z News reported that Khan had “hit hard” the ISI before starting his long march. It also reported how Khan had praised Indian foreign policy at every opportunity.
Azam Swati, another PTI leader, was live on another Indian channel with a slip in his hand, delivering a statement carefully calibrated to hurt the morale of the Pakistani armed forces.
India today reported: “Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan on Friday complimented India for following an ‘independent foreign policy during Russia and Ukraine war, saying that the neighbouring country continues to buy oil from sanctions-hit Russia for the betterment of its people.”
The jubilation of Indian media and social media did not go unnoticed in Pakistan. One Pakistani social media user wrote that Indians may not have been as happy even after winning the war of 1971 as they were after seeing Khan attack DG ISI.
Another social media user wrote that there was a time when India used to support Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and today it is supporting Imran Khan, “but remember that it is not 1971 but it is 2022”.
Another social media user tweeted that there is jubilation across India right now Imran Khan is doing very well which India could never do. “Imran is doing what no General, Politician, Pundit or Ruler of India has been able to do till this day”.
Another user wrote, “Congratulations to the youthias, today Imran Khan and India are on the same page against Pakistan.”
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