Pakistan's paroxysm regarding the middle-east crisis has been revealed. All its frenetic diplomatic efforts and expressions of outrage over the conflict between Palestine and Israel proved to be "ambitious".
Pakistan took up the issue of Palestine and Israel primarily aimed at domestic audiences and diplomatic dividends that Islamabad imagined will come with its strident advocacy of 'Islamic' causes.
Fabien Baussart in a blog in Times of Israel hinted that it appears that Pakistan has miscalculated and overplayed its hand at home and abroad.
Domestically, Prime Minister Imran Khan has got no real political boost by going ballistic over the whole Palestine issue. With absolutely nothing to show for back home, he has latched on to 'Islamic causes' - blasphemy against the Prophet, Palestine and Kashmir - to retain his following.
The policy of stridency on the blasphemy issue has seen Pakistan isolated. Worse, the European Union has reacted quite strongly with an almost unanimous resolution passed by the European Parliament against the persecution of religious minorities and misuse of the Blasphemy Law in Pakistan.
The EU is now considering withdrawing the GSP+ concessions given to Pakistani exports, something that will deal a body blow to Pakistan's failing economy.The streets of Pakistan are seeing a surge of resentment with the rising inflation and joblessness. To deviate the masses from focussing on the main issue, Imran Khan latched onto Israel-Palestine crisis.
On the Palestine issue, Pakistani overzealousness could have serious adverse consequences. The Army is exasperated with his blundering ways. His own party is imploding. His allies are restive and the Opposition is baying for blood, what with new scandals erupting every day, wrote Fabien Baussart.
Diplomatically, the Pakistani hysterics over Palestine could backfire. At one level, it has exposed Pakistan's deep-seated anti- Semitism.
Moreover, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in his CNN interview blowed out the tip of the iceberg. Qureshi speaking to CNN's Bianna Golodryga on the Israel-Palestine conflict, invoked an age-old anti-Semitic trope that the media was controlled by a certain group of people owing to their "deep pockets." Golodryga was quick to hold the minister to account by pushing back and pressing him to clarify his claim.The government in Pakistan, led by Prime Minister Imran Khan, has made several anti-Semitic remarks in the past. Ranging from a member of Parliament in his government calling for "jihad" against Israel to the Prime Minister himself stooping to the level of drawing parallels between "Islamaphobia" and the Holocaust, Pakistani politicians have a history of engaging in anti-Semitic bigotry.
Speeches in Parliament made by Pakistani politicians, including members of Imran Khan's party, lauding Hitler, wishing for the extermination of Jews, suggesting that Pakistan should use its nuclear weapons to threaten Israel, calling for jihad against Israel and Jews, have ripped the veil from the face of Pakistan and its ruling party, reported The Times of Israel.
Apart from Pakistanis revealing their real face to the world, the hysterics of Imran Khan's government on Palestine has raised more than a few eyebrows, including in Pakistan.
Many people are asking how come Imran Khan has been so active on the Israel-vs- Hamas conflict - raising diplomatic hell, sending his Foreign Minister on shuttle diplomacy to various Islamic countries to drum up support and forge a united Islamic response to Israel's retaliation against Hamas rocket attacks.
( With inputs from ANI )
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