In a recent, a Pakistani Newspaper issued an apology for mocking their own Prime Minister by publishing a cartoon in their daily edition.
A Pakistani newspaper ‘The Nation’ had published a cartoon in the newspaper trying to mock their own Prime Minister Imran Khan for his continuously failed attempts to talk about mediation on the Kashmir matter with Indian Government.
In the cartoon, PM Imran Khan (Pakistan) can be seen pulling a cart which carries US President Donald J Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, giving side hugs to each other, while US President entices PM Imran Khan with a carrot depicting mediation regarding Kashmir matter.
The news cartoon was published in the newspaper’s 25th September, Wednesday Edition. However, instead of taking it humorously, it offended the sentiments of many citizens of Pakistan. Readers criticized the publication, saying the cartoon was in bad taste and that it mocked Khan.
After the criticism, the newspaper understood their mistake. The Nation issued an apology n 26th September in this regard. The news said the cartoon did fall short of their “standards” and doesn’t reflect its “editorial policy” & that it was “inappropriate”.
The apology comes ahead of Imran Khan’s who is about to address a speech at to the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
The Apology read
“The artwork fell short of our standards and does not reflect our editorial policy. It should never have appeared. We are proud to be a nationalistic paper, and we regret sincerely the attention taken by an inappropriate artwork, especially at the time of the UN General Assembly session taking place in New York.”
Pakistan’s Pm Imran Khan has been trying hard to initiate a mediation on the Kashmir matter after the Indian government scrapped Article 370 on 5th August 2019. The government has divided the state into two union territories viz Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. Pakistan has also downgraded trade ties between the two nations, banned diplomatic relations and air routes as well for India. Imran Khan has also been trying to bring International Communities like United Nation itself to come and intervene in the matter. Some of the member nations assured Imran Khan of having a dialogue with India on the matter however there has been no progress or pressure exerted on Delhi in this regard up till now.
Indian on the other hand has always been claiming that Article 370, Jammu & Kashmir, etc has always been an internal matter as the state is an undisputed and integral part of India. Indian Government raised a blackout in the state of Jammu & Kashmir, detained Kashmiri political leaders under house arrest and put restrictions on public movement before it proposed to revoke Article 370 in the parliament house. The Indian government is well aware of the situations of the state and hence did whatever was necessary to maintain peace and order in the state. There have been around 50 days and around 8 million people living in the state are being continuously guarded and monitored by 9 lakh soldiers on the ground. This is a government’s strategy to avoid riot and chaos after the revocation of Article 370.
Khan had expressed his disappointment on Tuesday regarding no action taken by the international community to pressure India matter.
The world would have reacted with more urgency had eight million Europeans, Jewish people, or Americans been under siege. There is no pressure on Narendra Modi to lift the siege,” he said.
However, the Indian government has assured that the people of Kashmir are safe and the troops on the ground are taking care of the peace and harmony in the region. Kashmir has been inflicted with a lot of terror groups, Mujahidin Groups who have been persuading and infecting the minds of Indian Kashmiris to go against their government and start a revolution. The reason for the blackout in the area is to avoid any chances of severities like riots which may uprise on the lifting of the curfew.
