No Kashmir, no terrorism: Why New Delhi should feel happy with Imran Khan’s speech

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan | @pid_gov/Twitter

In his maiden speech to the nation, the Pakistan PM made a passing reference to foreign policy that lasted exactly 40 seconds.

New Delhi: The absence of any reference to Kashmir, an all-too-brief mention on combating terrorism and exhortations to citizens to pay tax on time marked Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s maiden speech to the nation.

In a 70-minute speech, delivered in Urdu Saturday morning, Khan made a passing reference to foreign policy that lasted exactly 40 seconds. His refusal to mention the K-word (Kashmir) must have heartened New Delhi. He called for bringing an end to terrorism without naming any terror groups. However, he showed his intention of bringing Balochistan back to the national mainstream.

Khan’s several references to Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, and Allama Muhammad Iqbal, who provided its ideological underpinning, clearly seemed as if he saw himself as the inheritor of their modern legacy.

He said, “I never thought of this politics as a career and profession. Twenty-two years ago I joined politics with the mission to make my country an Islamic welfare state as envisioned by Allama Muhammad Iqbal.”

Imran Khan insisted that Pakistan should develop its own national identity and capabilities and not depend on other countries. He spoke against the dependence of farmers in Pakistan on agricultural research from India.

Aware that Pakistan is almost broke, Khan repeatedly referred to the need to bring about much more austerity in its social fabric. For example, he suggested cutting public expenditure by converting government rest houses and residences into universities, and reining in vast expenditures on the maintenance of unwanted government properties.

However, Khan did not utter a single word about reducing Pakistan’s rising military budget and defence expenditures and its consequent pressures on Pakistan’s economy. There has been a 20 per cent increase in its defence spending in the current year. Clearly, he is much aware that he owes his rise as prime minister to certain quarters in the military establishment.

Former PM Nawaz Sharif’s confrontation with the military had largely been based on his intentions to direct Pakistan’s security and defence policy. Khan has, at least in his first official speech and his vision statement for the country, evaded these areas and focussed primarily on domestic economic and social development issues.

The Imran Khan of 2018 sounded a lot like PM Narendra Modi, albeit from different instances in his premiership since 2014 to contemporary times. Khan made a fervent appeal to all Pakistanis to pay their taxes properly to aid the development of the country. He pledged to launch campaigns against the corrupt and against those who stack up black money abroad.

In the same vein, he tried to shore up the sentiments of his supporters by warning them of a severe pushback and a threat to democracy when such a campaign is launched. His statement of targeting the rich to aid the poor is a characteristic replay of PM Modi’s political pitch for demonetisation.