KARACHI: Prime Minister Imran Khan’s recent comments after his overture of peace talks with India amounted to a “strange and significant” statement nothing like anything from his predecessors, former military officers, and senior analysts have said.
Addressing government officials in Lahore on Sunday, PM Khan said that his country will not accept any act of hostility and will respond in kind if it comes to that. “Our wish for peace should not be mistaken as a sign of weakness,” he told bureaucrats of the Punjab government. His statement came a day after the Indian Army Chief Bipin Rawat threatened Islamabad with “retaliation” for allegedly killing a border guard and policemen in Indian-administered Kashmir.
“Prime Minister Imran Khan speaks from his mind,” Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry told Arab News.
A day earlier, PM Khan in a tweet said he was disappointed at what he described as “the arrogant and negative response by India” to his call for the resumption of the peace dialogue.
“The statement from PM Khan is a statement from the nation. This specific statement, and all other statements made by Imran Khan, are reflective of the true feelings of his nation,” the information minister added.
The tweet and address in Lahore invited reaction from the other side of the border. Former External Affairs Minister of India Shashi Tharoor said Khan had a “fairly clear level of military backing” and he “could be a wonderful face for peace or an effective voice for hostility, depending on what the army wants of him.”
Former military officers and defense experts in Pakistan, however, do not agree.
Tharoor is an eloquent orator and well-read commentator on regional issues but citing the age-old Indian rhetoric seems quite odd, said the Karachi-based defense analyst Waheed Akhter Bukhari.
“His whole argument relying on the ‘army running the show in Pakistan and civilian leadership being under their watchful eyes’ rhetoric is, in fact, an insult to the capabilities of ‘his longtime friend’ Imran Khan,” he said.
Khan is the first prime minister of Pakistan and among the very few people of his generation to have a Twitter account, and he uses it regularly, said senior analyst Shahzad Chaudhry, adding that what Khan expressed hadn’t come from anywhere else.
“India, in contradiction of the diplomatic norms, used very harsh language by saying that the ‘true face of Imran Khan has been exposed’ in response to his peace overture,” Chaudhry told Arab News. This, Chaudhry said, led the Pakistani premier to tweet the harsh statement but it was still not as harsh as it was interpreted by some in India and Pakistan.
Major General (rtd.) Ejaz Awan, a senior defense analyst, said previous governments were extra-diplomatic toward India but this time “the political and military leadership are on the same page.”
PM Khan’s language toward India ‘strange and significant,’ analysts say
PM Khan’s language toward India ‘strange and significant,’ analysts say
- The current political and military leadership are on the same page, say experts
- Imran Khan has a “fairly clear level of military backing,” says India
Pakistan says $50 million meat export deal with Tajikistan nearing finalization
- Islamabad expects to finalize agreement soon after Dushanbe signals demand for 100,000 tons
- Pakistan is seeking to expand agricultural trade beyond rice, citrus and mango exports
ISLAMABAD: Tajikistan has expressed interest in importing 100,000 tons of Pakistani meat worth more than $50 million, with both governments expected to finalize a supply agreement soon, Pakistan’s food security ministry said on Tuesday.
Pakistan is trying to grow agriculture-based exports as it seeks regional markets for livestock and food commodities, while Tajikistan, a landlocked Central Asian state, has been expanding food imports to support domestic demand. Pakistan currently exports rice, citrus and mangoes to Dushanbe, though volumes remain small compared to national production, according to official figures.
The development came during a meeting in Islamabad between Pakistan’s Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Rana Tanveer Hussain and Ambassador of Tajikistan Yusuf Sharifzoda, where agricultural trade, livestock supply and food-security cooperation were discussed.
“Tajikistan intends to purchase 100,000 tons of meat from Pakistan, an import valued at over USD 50 million,” the ambassador said, according to the ministry’s statement, assuring full facilitation and that Islamabad was prepared to meet the demand.
The statement said the two sides agreed to expand cooperation in meat and livestock, fresh fruit, vegetables, staple crops, agricultural research, pest management and standards compliance. Pakistan also proposed strengthening coordination on phytosanitary rules and establishing pest-free production zones to support long-term exports.
Pakistan and Tajikistan have long maintained political ties but bilateral food trade remains below potential: Pakistan produces 1.8 million tons of mangoes annually but exported just 0.7 metric tons to Tajikistan in 2024, while rice exports amounted to only 240 metric tons in 2022 out of national output of 9.3 million tons. Pakistan imports mainly ginned cotton from Tajikistan.
