
A Pakistani-origin banker on Tuesday backed former Pakistan army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, who not very long ago told the country's Foreign Office to mend ways with India. Bajwa, who served as Pakistan's army chief from 2016 to 2022, was in favour of normal relations with India and it was during his tenure Islamabad and New Delhi announced a ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC).
Earlier this month, Pakistan's top journalist Hamid Mir claimed that Bajwa in 2021 told the Foreign Office to settle issues with New Delhi as the army was not capable of going to war with India. "If Bajwa wanted to settle the issue, he was right in principle," said Yousuf Nazar, an author and former banker. He said Pakistan should forget about a plebiscite in Kashmir and try to normalise relations with India "because it is in her interest to do so".
In 2021, Bajwa said the Pakistan army can't go to war with India as its tanks were not in working conditions and there was not sufficient diesel for the movements of forces, Hamid Mir said while in conversation with fellow journalist Naseem Zehra. Mir said Bajwa had struck "a deal" with India on Kashmir. Bajwa, he added, held secret talks with India's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Prime Minister Narendra Modi was to visit Pakistan in April 2021, just months after the ceasefire.
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According to Mir, when the Foreign Office and then foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi came to know about the planned visit, they went to former Prime Minister Imran Khan and asked whether he was aware. After this, Imran Khan then asked then ISI chief Faiz Hameed to inform the Foreign Office.
After this, Mir said, Bajwa came to the foreign office and lectured them. "And it was the same lecture given before us...tanks are not in a condition to work, there is no diesel for the movements of cannons...so let's settle issues with India," Mir said, adding that the foreign ministry told the then-army chief that it was against the country's national interest.
However, Nazar said that it was in Pakistan's interest to have a good relationship with India. Nazar has authored a book on Pakistan, titled: "Balkanisation and Political Economy of Pakistan". In another tweet on Tuesday, the banker said the future of Pakistan was doomed as it was not safe for foreign investors. "The future of a country, known for its intolerant society, extremist groups, and for a history of confrontation and wars with its neighbours, is doomed as an international outcast which is not safe for foreign investors. #Pakistan," he wrote on Twitter.
Nazar's observation is in line with what many Pakistanis think about their own country. Just days ago, after Apple opened its first two stores in India, the Pakistanis were fuming at the course their country has taken. They shared a picture where a Chinese person was arrested for alleged blasphemy. He was arrested after he objected to longer prayer breaks by workers. A year before this, a Sri Lankan supervisor was beaten to death for alleged blasphemy.
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