Imran Khan’s blunder

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan stirred an unnecessary controversy on Wednesday. While addressing the gathering at the inaugural event of the Kartarpur Sahib corridor, Khan mentioned the K-word and then implicitly suggested that Congress MLA Navjot Singh Sidhu would be a better choice as the prime minister of India.

Not only does he risk a diplomatic spat with India, Khan is also likely to erode the goodwill generated between the two countries after agreeing to open the “faith corridor” linking two popular Sikh religious shrines in India and Pakistan. Needless to say, Khan exhibited an abominable lack of maturity. Worse, he may have unwittingly thrown the Congress party under the bus at a time when it is locked in a key electoral battle in Rajasthan with its principal rival, the BJP.

While this may or may not tilt the odds in the BJP’s favour, at the least, the hawks on either side can claim that the latest effort at a patch-up between the two countries will go nowhere. This would be the lasting impact of Khan’s intemperate remarks.