Fool me once...

Byline: Irfan Husain

IMRAN Khan is a truly lucky man. Not just because he attained his present position with a little help from his friends, but because the chaos next door has distracted opponents who have muted their criticism of his government's miserable performance.

Firstly, it was the Indian aerial attack at Balakot following a suicide bombing at Pulwama that killed 40 Indian security personnel. This gave our prime minister the opportunity of assuming the role of peacemaker by releasing the Indian pilot who was shot down over Azad Kashmir.

And as Pakistan stood at the brink of war, opponents were forced to rally around. The prime minister was thus given a platform to appeal to the world to rein in Narendra Modi. Again, more mundane things like the price hike caused by this government's policies were pushed to Page 5.

And now, as inflation has really begun to bite, the fight-back against Modi's recent anti-Muslim law has again diverted the Pakistani media and opposition. The killings in New Delhi, and the widespread support for Modi, have pushed any chance of a discussion on Kashmir off the table.

Judging from the scores of emails I have received from Indian readers after a couple of recent columns, hatred of Pakistan, and the support for the Hindutva philosophy are growing rapidly. However, many Indians have also written about their dislike for Modi, and the extremist genie that he has released from the bottle.

And how many trees have actually been planted?

All this has allowed Imran Khan to play the statesman, urging the world to intervene in order to save Indian Muslims, and restore human rights in Indian-occupied Kashmir. This is ironic as in the past, it used to be Indian leaders who condemned Pakistan for aiding jihadists to sow mayhem next door. Clearly, Modi has allowed Pakistan to grab the moral high ground it once occupied.

Given all this, nobody is asking the ruling party what happened to all of its campaign promises. We all remember that the PTI had promised to create 10 million jobs. What happened to them? With a third of his term behind him, could it please tell us how many have been created?

The real tally would indicate that the economy has lost far more jobs than it has created. With factories shutting down or cutting down production, workers are being laid off at an unprecedented rate.

And how many trees have actually been planted? Remember that the PTI had pledged a 'tsunami of a billion trees'? Could it please let...