Hanif Abbassi, a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan, said that 130 nuclear weapons were aimed at India. He also said that different types of missiles like Ghazanavi, Gauri and Shaheen were carrying these nuclear weapons. Going a step further, he said that these nuclear weapons have been hidden all over Pakistan and are aimed only at India.
Abbasi belongs to the Pakistan Muslim League-N of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and was convicted for dealing in drugs in July 2018. According to the details of this case available in the public domain, Abbasi used his pharmaceutical company as a front for selling large quantities of ephedrine to drug lords. This drug can be used for illicit manufacturing of contraband methamphetamine, a potent psychotropic substance. He is widely believed to be part of a drug mafia involved in manufacture, sale and smuggling of illicit drugs sold to youngsters in many countries.)
Talking to reporters, he threatened India with dire consequences in wake of the suspension of Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) something that was done on April 23 evening itself. He said that the Commander in Chief of Pakistani Army General Asim Munir has already threatened war with India. That should be taken seriously as he was actually issuing a warning.
Abbasi is beholden to Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), military intelligence wing of the Pakistan Army, as the agency had got him off the judicial hook. This was done by the ISI by manipulating evidence, manipulating benches in various high courts and for getting Abbasi released. He was speaking to reporters like a deviant juvenile, reminding one of clown which used to have a central role in earlier plays that were staged.
Poor theatrics, worse manners and loud mouthed are three words that can be used for defining Abbasi’s performance. Till some years ago, bandying out threats about Pakistan’s nuclear weapons was a task assigned to Sheikh Rashid Ahmed by powers that be. Abbasi seems to be the new fall guy ISI and General Asim Munir have got. Incidentally, when Abbasi was sentenced and was likely to remain in jail for life, Gen Asim Munir was the ISI chief. Abbasi looked comical and pathetic in the video that is available on most Pakistani TV channels.
He claimed that retaliatory measures taken by Pakistan will soon have a crippling effect on various airlines of India. These airlines will go bankrupt within the next 10 days and demand accountability from the Indian government, he added.
Abbasi’s theatrics were clearly a command performance orchestrated and directed by the ISI. His comments came close on the heels of a statement by Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khwaja Asif who said that Pakistan was responsible for training terrorists for past three decades. While owning up that his country had long remained an epicentre of terror, Asif had shifted the onus on the US and some western countries.
Training terrorists was a dirty job and Pakistan did it for over three decades, the Pakistani Defence Minister had said. Asif claimed that the Indian intelligence agencies were responsible for the Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 people died on April 22. Asif claimed that Lashkar e Toiba (LeT) has ceased to exist and he doesn’t know what is The Resistance Front (TRF), a group said to be behind this attack.
When Abbasi and Asif’s comments are taken together, one can only say that this is how “blow hot, blow cold’’ policy is being pursued by Pakistan at this juncture of extreme frustration.
Meanwhile, Pakistani authorities in Muzzafarabad have accused India of creating flood-like situation in Jhelum river by a sudden release of large quantities of water. They also said that there was no intimation regarding the sudden surge in Jhelum waters from the Indian side. They perhaps forget that after putting the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in abeyance, India will not be providing any data regarding droughts/floods in the Chenab, the Jhelum and the Indus.
The nightmare of sudden surges in waters or prolonged dry spells seem like deliberate events that can now be created by the Indian side to teach Pakistan a lesson of a lifetime. Earlier, most data on hydrology of rivers was shared by India and given to Pakistan engineers.
