I read an interesting article on New Pakistan a few days ago in www.timesofindia.com. Is this rogue nation really changing under Imran Khan? Or is it merely a case of a leopard changing its spots?
Today, many eyes will be focused on the visit of the Pakistani Prime Minister to Washington. Will President Donald Trump favor Imran Khan with a few concessions? Or, as India expects, will Imran come back home empty-handed?
New Pakistan- fighting a perception war
Whatever be the outcome of this visit, the so-called New Pakistan is fighting a perception war. It seems that this country wants to tell the entire world, ‘Hey guys, we are changing.’
Over the past few months, Imran Khan’s Pakistan has tried the following things:
- ‘Dismantled’ terror camps
- ‘Arrested’ Hafiz Syed
- Requested India for talks on Kartarpur corridor
- Removed a Khalistan supporter from Pakistan Gurudwara Prabandhal Committee
- Delivered Wing Commander Abhinandan Vartaman safely to India, and without any conditions
- Opened its air space once again to all commercial aircraft entering Pakistan from India
I don’t know whether this change process is real or a sham. But in the past few months, Pakistan has ‘tried’ to put on a new set of clothes to impress the western capitals.
You might think that India’s Balakot forced this country to mend its ways. I, on the other hand, would think that Balakot is one of the many reasons why this ‘terror spot’ is changing.
3 reasons why Pakistan is ‘changing’
Pakistan is on the verge of collapse and everyone knows that. Its economy is in shambles and the last news I heard said it owes a $6 billion fine to a mining company. This fine was imposed by an international tribunal.
The magnitude of this penalty is chicken feed in a global sense but for Pakistan, this is a huge amount. A few days back, one US Dollar was worth 150+ Pakistani rupees and this currency crisis should tell you the mess that the Pakistanis have landed themselves in.
A messy economy
Until a few months ago, no multilateral agency like the IMF and the World Bank was willing to give loans to Pakistan. For the rest of the world, this terror factory was a gone case. It made no sense to give loans to a country which had multiple centers of power.
Then one fine morning, lady luck smiled on this country and the International Monetary Fund said it will give a loan of 6 billion dollars to it.
Chicken feed again.
This is no money for a country having 20 crore people living within its borders. You need to pay for things you import for your consumption like oil, coal, etc. And these commodities are getting expensive day by day Particularly, oil.
Pakistan knows that it could become Somalia soon if it did not humor countries like the United States. Washington is the most important country in the entire World Bank and IMF set-up. No loan gets approved unless Uncle Sam moves his finger in the right direction.
The shadow of FATF
There is another enemy of Pakistan that is watching this country intently and that is the FATF.
Over the years, the entity that we call FATF has collected a vast body of evidence on Pakistani terrorism.
The Financial Action Task Force is an inter-governmental body that monitors funding of terrorist activities around the world. It was created by the G-7 in July 1989 and is headquartered in Paris.
The main aim of this anti-terror body is to dissuade terror-sponsoring countries by turning off the terror funding tap. And one of those countries is Pakistan.
The FATF is an extremely influential body and comprises countries that have a major say in the World Bank and IMF. These member countries are also extremely prosperous. Any negative opinion from the FATF about any country is bad news for the former.
No wonder Imran’s Pakistan is running like a headless chicken. This country is now in the grey list of FATF. This means Pakistan is a dangerous country to deal with as it is an active sponsor of terrorism.
FATF has warned the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to stop funding terrorist activities. Unless it does so, no or very little financial aid will come to this country. And FATF is pretty serious about what it is saying here. After all, France has been hit by many terrorist events over the past few years.
And many of these attacks have been staged from Pakistan.
The same goes for the United Kingdom as well.
If Pakistan goes into the blacklist, it’s over and out for that hopeless country. No power on earth can save Pakistan from complete chaos in case FATF plays hardball.
India is turning on the screws too on New Pakistan
India too has played its part in forcing Imran Khan’s Pakistan to become a shareef nation.
Who can forget the Balakot strike when Indian Air Force jets crossed the border and bombed a Pakistan- based terror pad? That strike conveyed a chilling message to Islamabad; India will not bow down to any nuclear blackmail from Islamabad.
India also withdrew the Most Favored Nation Status from Pakistan after the Pulwama attack. This step doesn’t amount to much because the trade volume between both the two countries is pretty insignificant. But once again it showed our resolve to hit back against Pakistan’s terror activities.
Perhaps there is an even more important India-centric reason why Pakistan has gone ‘hard’ on terror.
A few months before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to stop our excess river waters from flowing into Pakistan. This surely would have worried Islamabad no end. How can you manage an already failing economy when there is no water to feed your crops?
And everybody knows that Modi can come true on his threat.
He could have gone even further by canceling the Indus Water Treaty with Pakistan.
This meant no water at all to Pakistan from its north-eastern borders. No water in Indus means all your crops get fried in summer and finally, your domestic economy collapses.
After reading all this, do you think Pakistan is changing for the better?
Imran’s Pakistan- A leopard changings its spots
I, for one, would take a long-term view of all these steps. The DNA of Pakistan is India-centric hate. The people and the government of that country want India destroyed. This country came into being because its people refused to live along with Hindus. There would be no peace in Pakistan unless India along with her Hindus is extinguished.
Unless Pakistan changes its DNA and stops hating India, I will continue viewing it as a leopard that changes its spots now and then.