Islamabad, (Samajweekly) The strained ties between New Delhi and Islamabad have been part of the political narratives of all political parties in Pakistan.
During election campaigns, mentioning of India through the lens of Kashmir has remained a part of every political party’s election manifesto. And even after decades, the India mention for political gains remains unchanged.
The previous coalition government under the premiership of Shehbaz Sharif has been under severe criticism for its policies and what locals term as succumbing to the IMF and pushing the masses towards catastrophic inflation that has plunged the lives of every household into severe financial crisis.
And while the political parties struggle to formulate a political narrative to reach out to their voters for votes, the Indian mention is expected to become more prominent.
“PML-N and PPP has accused Imran Khan for selling out Kashmir to India by letting the August 5, 2019 (abrogation of Article 370) event happen.This and similar mentions of India are expected to stay on repeat during election rallies by almost all political parties,” said political analyst Jawad Naqvi.
“PPP’s political narrative building will showcase how Bilawal Bhutto Zardari took the decision to go to attend the SCO Summit in in Goa despite his recent statement against Narendra Modi.”
On the other hand, analysts also maintain that the latest row between India and Canada over the killing of pro-Khalistan hardliner Hardeep Singh Nijjar, would also be part of the anti-India narrative by political leaders in public gatherings.
The Kashmir dispute would remain on top of the agenda of the anti-India narrative of all political parties in their election campaigning.
“Political leaders would promise their voters of dealing with India with an iron hand on one side and not shying away from keeping Kashmir dispute as the primary and one-point agenda of talks with India”, said political analyst Rashid Hussain.
The Pakistan-India rivalry has stayed on the boiler in terms of diplomatic tensions, which has made it part of the political point scoring item for all political parties against each other.
