Our Bureau
New Delhi
The escalating tensions between India and Pakistan have been fuelled by the religiously insensitive remarks passed by Senator Palwasha Mohammad Zai Khan in Pakistan’s Upper House on April 29.
A video of Khan’s inflammatory speech went viral on Wednesday where she declared that the first brick of the new Babri mosque in Ayodhya would be laid by her country’s armed forces. “The first brick of the new Babri mosque in Ayodhya will be laid by Pakistan Army soldiers, and the first azaan will be given by Army Chief Asim Munir himself.” The Pakistani senator added, “We are not wearing bangles.”
Khan mentioned that in the Indian army, there are Sikh soldiers, who would not attack Pakistan in case of a conflict with India. “It’s the land of Guru Nanak for them,” she emphasized.
She went ahead stating that India is ready to form a Muslim government in the near future given the present circumstances in the country. “Judging from current circumstances, it appears that Allah is creating the means for the establishment of a Muslim government—specifically a Pakistani Muslim government—in the Indian subcontinent.”, Khan said in Urdu.
The religious rhetoric gained further momentum when Khan warned India of a bloodshed in New Delhi’s Red Fort. “If any hand reaches toward us, then the symbol of their power, the Red Fort of Delhi, will witness a bloodshed that its walls have never seen, and its ramparts will testify to it for centuries to come.”
Khan clarified that Pakistan does not have any enmity with the people of India, attempting to distinguish the actions of the Pakistani state from Indian citizens.
She went on to praise Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh, Pannu, who is a designated terrorist under Indian law. “I want to salute Sikh leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannu, who courageously declared that no Indian soldier will be allowed to cross into Pakistan from Indian Punjab.”
Boasting about Pakistan’s scale of army and military preparedness, Khan asserted, “Our army is not just six or seven lakh soldiers, we have 250 million people who, when the time comes, will stand shoulder to shoulder with our armed forces and become soldiers themselves, God willing.”
Khan is the deputy information secretary of the incumbent Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and has been a part of the Upper House since March 2021. She represents the province of Sindh on a woman’s reserved seat. She also served as a member of National Assembly of Pakistan from 2008 to 2013.
Pakistan is officially an Islamic Republic with a federal parliamentary system of government.
