Strong retaliation by Indian Ministry of External Affairs against Imran Khan

New Delhi: Saying that he is deeply moved as 84% of the Indian population is facing starvation, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan offered help to India. Imran Khan showed his generosity in a tweet saying ‘We have the experience of schemes implemented for the poor people in Pakistan. We can share our experience with India.’ Indians are scoffing at his quote. Whereas, the spokesperson of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs Anurag Srivastava retorted that Pakistan, trapped in a debt burden as big as 90% of the country’s GDP, should first worry about the country’s health. Srivastava also reminded Pakistan that the package announced by the Indian government is larger than the GDP of Pakistan.

A survey report, published by some US universities, says that 84% of the Indian population is faced with the financial crisis due to the Coronavirus pandemic. A Pakistani newspaper had carried news regarding this. Referring to that news, the Pakistan Prime Minister extended a ‘helping hand’ to India. The Indians reacted to this. Netizens scoffed at Imran Khan saying Pakistan, a pauper, advising a country like India, is almost laughable.

As per analysts, Imran Khan has proposed this out of frustration that India does not pay heed to any of the allegations or fusses made by him. The analysts remarked that Imran Khan made this last-ditch effort, to get attention from India. Otherwise, the Pakistan Prime Minister would not have made such a laughable proposal, at a time, when there is an explosion of Coronavirus in Pakistan and Pakistan is pleading with the International Monetary Fund and other countries for loans.

Anurag Srivastava, the spokesperson of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, lashed out at Imran Khan by saying that the Indian Ministry of External affairs also has attacked the statements made by Imran Khan. There is a lot Pakistan can do for its population. The country has a debt burden equal to 90% of its GDP. Whereas the Indian government has declared a package, for its people, that is more than the GDP of Pakistan. The ministry also pointed out that 3 million hectors of farms have been finished off by the locust swarm in Pakistan. Although the locust swarm hit India, the country has handled the issue successfully. India had offered help to Pakistan to tackle the locust swarm menace. But Pakistan has not reacted to the proposal till date.

Putting his finger on this, the ministry spokesman has shown that the Pakistan Prime Minister’s proposal to help is hollow. Following the onset of the Coronavirus pandemic, Pakistani media and the journalists from the Hate India group were rejoicing by saying that India is in a pitiable state. Claiming that the Indian economy will hit rock bottom because of this, these people also said that the Indian government is using the hatred for Pakistan to divert the attention of the Indian people from the problem. But now, the Coronavirus pandemic is acquiring dangerous proportions in Pakistan itself, and as per a report, there could be more than 650,000 Coronavirus cases in the city of Lahore alone. This report is a month old, and now a reporter has claimed that there are nearly 1.1 million cases in Lahore.

This reporter has blamed the irresponsibility demonstrated by Imran Khan for the situation in Pakistan. In such a scenario, indications are that Imran Khan will face severe criticism from around Pakistan for making himself, a laughing stock, by offering to help India.