Inexcusable Pakistani shelling in the time of COVID-19 pandemic
At a time when the entire humanity is fighting for its right to live against an invisible invader, locking itself fully or partially to maintain social distancing at its darkest hour, how is it business as usual in Pakistan’s terror factory? It has kept the LoC active with cross-border shelling to push terrorists into J&K, drawing Indian retaliation. Just the other day Indian commandos neutralised a bunch of trained terrorists in hand-to-hand combat, suffering casualties in the process. And Indian shelling inflicted heavy damage on an ammunition depot and terror launch pads deep inside enemy territory in the Keran sector, with the Army sharing visuals to establish its point of giving a fitting response.
While Pakistan keeps invoking the UN to make Kashmir a multilateral dispute, it has paid little heed to the UN chief’s call last month for a global ceasefire on all levels of combat till the scourge is defeated. Last week, the Saudi Arabia-led coalition in Yemen announced a unilateral ceasefire against Houthi rebels, to give the country a chance to fight the virus instead. It came immediately after Yemen’s first virus case was detected because its broken healthcare system is ill-equipped to handle the outbreak. And the Saudis and Russia have kissed and made up to end the oil market mayhem.
In Pakistan, the virus has killed over 85 people and infected more than 5,000. Since it already was a basket case before the bug invaded, the country sought a debt moratorium and fresh international funding for its ailing healthcare system. Yet, the futility of a confrontation on the Indian border is lost on its jaundiced leadership. Pakistani PM Imran Khan is a showman. Remember he unilaterally offered to broker a deal between the US and Iran, which later turned out to be wishful thinking.
He could have taken the moral high ground by announcing a temporary truce with India at the Saarc summit called on PM Narendra Modi’s initiative, but blew the opportunity by skipping it. Islamabad later grudgingly offered its share to the Saarc fund pool to combat the virus, but with strings. Such petulance, while not surprising, shows the lack of application of mind to combat a foe that respects no geographical boundaries.