BackImran Khan’s invite to inspect terror camps may just be a ‘throwaway line’
At first, it may seem that Khan’s remarks were off the cuff and not properly thought outAnalysts say Khan made the remark knowing full well that the UN has no system to handle such investigations
PremiumDid Pakistan score a self goal when its prime minister Imran Khan in his address to the UN General Assembly said the UN could send a team to his country to look for active terrorist groups? At first, it may seem that Khan’s remarks were off the cuff and not properly thought out. But analysts said Khan made the remark knowing full well that the UN has no system to handle such investigations and even if such a team was despatched, it is unlikely to discover these terrorist camps as most of them are either housed in schools or madrassas, or even in villages from where the camps can be dismantled in advance.
Addressing the UN General Assembly on Friday, Khan gave an account of how Pakistan turned into a home for terrorist groups by indirectly blaming the West for using his country as a frontline for their war against the former Soviet Union that had occupied Afghanistan. After the Soviets withdrew in 1989, Khan said Pakistan was left with many groups that it had trained to take on the Soviet Red Army. With the US losing interest after the Soviet withdrawal, Khan said successive Pakistani governments had taken the decision to dismantle these groups but it was left to his administration that came in last year to actually do this.
“We decided that we would dismantle what was left of these (jihadist) groups. This decision was taken by all parties in Pakistan but unfortunately they did not implement it. So, (when) we came to power, we decided to implement it and we dismantled whatever was left of these groups," Khan said.
“And I know that India keeps accusing us (that) there are these groups there. I would like the UN to send observers (and) see for themselves what we have done," Khan said.
“No Pakistani government would have dared to do this because it would have created strife," he said. “But we decided that there would be no militant organisation in Pakistan."
Responding to Khan’s statement, India, in its right to reply statement read out by Vidisha Maitra, first secretary in the Permanent Mission in New York, said: “Now that Prime Minister Imran Khan has invited UN Observers to Pakistan to verify that there are no militant organizations in Pakistan, the world will hold him to that promise."
Kanwal Sibal, former foreign secretary, said: “Khan’s statement was just a throwaway line to prove his credibility."
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