Articles of the year 2021

Prime Minister,
Your cabinet minister has said that the Gadani shipyard is a provincial subject, and his Minister of Maritime affairs cannot interfere. Is he telling us the Interpol cables did not reach him ? They reached the Indian Minister and the Bangladeshi Minister.

Both these gentlemen acting on Interpol advice barred the ship from entering their waters. Our Minister conveniently looked away while the ship carrying this toxic cargo was allowed entry. The Minister for Shipping seems to believe that we are a nation of fools and believes that an interprovincial spat will shift the blame. The grand folly of Imran Khan is to have people like Zaidi who took three years to strike. The assertion of Minister Zaidi that this matter falls under the provincial government of Baluchistan opens a debate between Balochistan and the federal government who cannot deny that the ship entered from the federal coastal waters.

This will create a new spat between the already deprived balochistan government and Islamabad. The question has been raised in the senate already. It is upto prime minister to take punitive action against the ministers responsible. It is unthinkable that an alert from Interpol could have been missed by the minister. It is definitely the action of the official at a price. Putting the lives of 20 million people at risk cannot be worth the attempt of serving a death blow to the IK government. This is a crude and callous attempt to destabilise Imran Khan. The stupidity of this movement is beyond comprehension and shows that the target is IK himself. So it is imperative that Zaidi be made an example of, so that no one should attempt this again. Imran Khan, this time you cannot blame hidden hands. This is one of your own appointees. That has allowed this attack on the soil of Pakistan.

There is no forgiveness and negates all the attempts for environmental protection not to mention the danger to the newly refurbished nuclear power plant at Kanupp. Perhaps the ISI should look at the military consequences. The Indians deliberately allowing the vessel to sail to Pakistan should be considered an act of war. The situation shows a serious security risk within Imran Khan’s cabinet. How long can the PM protect his errant minister ? The baloch people have a new cause against Islamabad to add to their long list of deprivations.