Every time the Pakistan Army faces dissent within its own ranks, it pulls out the same old card: religion and hate.
Recently, Pakistan’s Director General ISPR, Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, was seen peddling religious extremism in a viral video.
“Do not befriend kafirs (non-believers) and leave the faithful. If you do that, there’s a problem. Then you are not among the Muslims,” he said.
He didn’t stop there. Taking a swipe at India-Afghanistan ties, he said: “Afghans say their DNA is the same as Indians. If that’s true, how can Afghans be Muslims?”
The Afghan Taliban – once Pakistan’s “strategic asset” – has now become its biggest headache.
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The DG ISPR said: “The main instrument of the TTP and the Afghan regime is terrorism. They run their economy, government and even diplomacy on the back of terror.”
Pakistan used the Taliban as cannon fodder for its own interests. However, the two have been having problems since the Taliban returned to power in 2021.
Amid a severe food crisis in Afghanistan, reports emerged that wheat sent by Pakistan was rotten and inedible. In contrast, Afghans publicly praised India for sending 50,000 metric tonnes of high-quality emergency wheat.
Pakistan’s border dispute with Afghanistan has also escalated.
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On Balochistan, the officer blamed “external powers” for the ongoing insurgency.
He claimed Balochistan’s elite and tribal chiefs have a common agenda. “External forces know Balochistan is not just strategic, but rich in natural resources and the blue economy. When Balochistan develops, all of Pakistan will grow. That’s what they can’t digest, so they are interfering through terrorists and sardars,” he claimed.
The comments follow the age-old habit of Pakistani officers to resort to religious hate when under pressure to divert the attention of the masses.
Such remarks also become a ruse for extremists to target minorities.
