A Pakistani newspaper – The Nation regretted over a controversial cartoon featuring its Prime Minister Imran Khan alongside Indian PM Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump. The cartoon mocked PM Khan’s desperate efforts to rake up the Kashmir issue at the United Nations.
Saudi a Key Partner Against Iran; $110 Billion Arms Deal in Pipeline: Trump
The cartoon by The Nation was published on Wednesday. The apology came a day ahead of PM Khan’s scheduled address to the United Nations General Assembly session where he is expected to raise the Kashmir issue in his speech.
“The artwork fell short of our standards and does not reflect our editorial policy,” The Nation said in a statement. “It should never have appeared. We are proud to be a nationalistic paper, and we regret sincerely the attention taken by an artwork that was inappropriate, especially at the time of the UN General Assembly session taking place in New York.”
The cartoon displayed Trump and Modi sitting in a cart that was being pulled by Khan. Trump is seen dangling a carrot in front of the Pakistani PM, who is thinking about intervention on the Kashmir issue.
A sincere apology from us to our readers… pic.twitter.com/tQyMTswN74
— The_Nation (@The_Nation) September 26, 2019
Earlier, Khan once again highlighted the impending massacre in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and said he would appeal to the United Nations for help as India’s military clampdown in J&K enters its seventh week.
In a meeting with editors of The New York Times, Imran said, “They do not understand that this can go horribly wrong.” “If the UN doesn’t speak about it, who is going to speak about it?” PM Imran said.
Jammu and Kashmir has been under lockdown since August 5, after New Delhi decided to remove the special status of the valley. In the past two months, Indian forces have apprehended at least 2,000 Kashmiris, including elected representatives.
Not Pakistan, But Iran Is The No.1 Terror State In The World: Donald Trump
Khan said India was behaving irrationally — and against its own longer-term interests. “Arrogance,” he said, “stops people from being rational.”
Khan said he would ask the United Nations to step in, warning that it was too risky to allow tensions to escalate between India and Pakistan, both of which have nuclear weapons. “This is the UN’s job,” he said, adding, “They have to intervene, send observers there.”
Imran Khan Thanks Turkish President Erdogan For Raising Kashmir Issue At UN
PM Khan further said he feared the moment the curfew is lifted, widespread violence would break out. “This is very dangerous,” he said, “because people don’t realise where it’s headed. It’s going to be a massacre, the moment they lift the curfew.”
He added he was not optimistic that he would accomplish anything in his speech to the United Nations, at least not in the near term. “But at least the world will be aware,” he said. “Because I fear an impending genocide.”
Separately in an interview with Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Khan said Pakistan wanted to lift its people out of poverty and focus on building a peaceful neighbourhood but the RSS-backed Narendra Modi government was following an agenda rooted in racial supremacy.
Joining American War On Terror Biggest Mistake By Pakistan – Imran Khan
“Racism is often rooted in arrogance and arrogance can lead people to make huge blunders. That’s what Modi has done in Kashmir,” he said while speaking to the editorial board of WSJ.
“I have come to New York especially for Kashmir. Everything else is secondary. The world doesn’t realise that we are heading for a big disaster,” PM Imran added. India’s repressive and illegal actions in occupied Kashmir would not only have repercussions for the region but for the entire Muslim world, Khan added.
