Vande Mataram

Sunday, February 24, 2019

Bomb that bonds

The recent visit of Saudi Arabian Crown Price Mohamed Bin Salman (MBS) to Pakistan and his promises there about billions of dollars worth of investments is, in some quarters of the society, sending conflicting signals as Saudi had earlier gave Pakistan a meager amount in aid and left it off with a mammoth debt. Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan had, as mocked by his own country's media and the world, has gone on a tour with a begging bowl to the Arab nations. He has also gone to China with the bowl, of course after carefully emptying it at Islamabad. China too has not been so magnanimous to Khan.

First off it was an ironic site to see the flamboyant Imran Khan, a former cricketer and a heftily wealthy man, to be seen begging at places where he had earlier used to flash his wealth and unleash lavishness. Of course China has no cricketing history nor has it a history of promoting tourism. So, Khan's flamboyance is not known in China except for intelligence inputs.