New Delhi: Bitter enemies for decades, US and North Korea on Tuesday sought to put their differences aside and work towards building peace and good relations. A day later, prominent Pakistan political leader Shahbaz Sharif – brother of ousted PM Nawaz Sharif – reportedly urged for similar talks with India.
Sharif apparently took to Twitter to draw comparisons between US-North Korea relations and India-Pakistan relations. The PML-N chief reportedly said that animosity between countries may be decades old but the US-North Korea summit showed that with proper intentions, peace and cordial relations can be established. “If the United States and North Korea can return from the brink of a nuclear flashpoint, there is no reason why Pakistan and India cannot do the same…” the tweet read.
Interestingly, while Pakistani media did attribute the tweet to Sharif himself, the verified account in his name mentions that it is handled by Sharif’s staff and tweets by Sharif himself are signed ‘ss’. None of the tweets about India-Pakistan dialogue had the ‘ss’ sign.
Nonetheless, while the tweets called for dialogue, it also made the baseless accusation of India having occupied Kashmir. “…beginning with a dialogue on Kashmir whose heroic people have resisted and rejected Indian occupation,” it alleged. Not surprisingly, it made no mention of Pakistan’s numerous atrocities in the part of Kashmir that it illegally occupies. Nor do the tweets mention terrorists and Pakistani forces from across LoC targeting innocents in J&K.
While many agree that both US-North Korea and India-Pakistan relations are complicated, it is also widely suspected that the Army in Pakistan runs the show. Over the years, several international scholars have repeatedly highlighted that Pakistani Army would want Indo-Pak enmity to rage on in order to stay relevant and all-powerful.
Bureau Report
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