In the two months since India changed the administrative status of Jammu & Kashmir the Government of Pakistan and in particular Prime Minister Imran Khan have become increasingly vocal and provocative in condemning India’s actions — to the point that it is these statements themselves which are continuing to destabilize the region and increase tensions. Most recently, Prime Minister Khan again unilaterally raised the specter of nuclear war with India.
In response to these threats, HAF Managing Director Samir Kalra offered the following statement:
“It is unfathomable that while Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan continues to threaten nuclear war against India with impunity, the world remains silent. We call on US policy makers to forcefully condemn Mr. Khan’s dangerous statements that put millions of innocent civilians at risk.
We further ask Members of Congress, particularly those on the Pakistan Caucus and Foreign Affairs Committee to take concrete steps to address: (1) Pakistan’s role in complicating the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan; (2) Pakistan’s use of terrorism against India and U.S. troops, and its destabilizing effect in the South Asia region; and (3) Pakistan’s systematic and egregious human rights violations against ethnic minorities such as Balochis, Sindhis, and Mohajirs, as well as religious minorities including Hindus, Sikhs, Christians, Ahmadiyya Muslims, and Shia Muslims.”
As just one example of these human rights violations, in the last two weeks, a false blasphemy charge against a Hindu school principal led to a mob attacking a Hindu school, three temples, and several Hindu homes in Ghotki in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province.
