Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has strongly opposed India’s proposed scrapping of Articles 35A and 370, calling the move illegal and “a violation of UN resolutions”.
However, Khan’s old statements may have come back to haunt him. In a tweet on August 5, Imran Khan’s ex-wife Reham Khan criticized his erstwhile support for a BJP government during the run-up to the 2019 Indian General Election.
The tweet, in Urdu, read “Our puppet prime minister has said that Kashmir problem would be solved if Modi gets reelected. This is political far-sightedness of the chosen. Is the problem solved? A major failure of history on the diplomatic front.”
Reham was referring to Imran Khan’s statement prior to the 2019 General Elections, when he said that a BJP-victory would be good for peace in Kashmir. Then, Khan had said that the other parties would fear a backlash too much to go for a settlement over Kashmir.
Reham has been a frequent critic of Khan, calling him a puppet of the military in February and comparing him to Boris Johnson in July. The two were briefly married between January and October of 2015.
Reham was not the only vocal critic of Imran on Twitter — she was joined by Maryam Nawaz, vice-president of the Pakistan Muslim League (N) and daughter of incarcerated former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who lambasted Imran for failing to anticipate India’s move.
“We, the people of Pakistan must be told what commitments were sought by & given to the U.S. by Imran Khan. Was the offer for mediation a trap that you walked into & gloated over, or you as usual had no clue about what was being planned by the enemy?” Maryam tweeted.
She added that Imran had either been oblivious to India’s plan on Kashmir, or that he must have been a part of it.
Maryam has been appealing to her party’s supporters to “march on Islamabad” as part of a planned series of protests against Nawaz Sharif’s incarceration.
On Monday, Imran Khan said that Pakistan would look at all possible options" to counter India's "illegal" and "unilateral" step. Pakistan's president, Arif Alvi, has called for a joint meeting of parliament on Tuesday to discuss India's move and review the situation in Kashmir and along the LoC.
With inputs from PTI