'Forced Pakistan to beg': PM Modi's old speech goes viral as economic crisis deepens in Pak

Pakistan crisis: Amid a deepening economic crisis, an old speech of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going viral in Pakistan. In the speech which has created a buzz, PM Modi had said that India had forced Pakistan to beg for money from around the world. 

Senator Azam Khan Swati, a minister in former Prime Minister Imran Khan's Cabinet, recently tweeted the video and said: "Hear what India's Modi is saying about Pakistan? If there is no honor in you, then be ashamed. People of Pakistan: Therefore, the only way to save this country is Imran Khan."

Pakistan-based journalist Naila Inayat, however, said the speech was from April 2019, when Imran Khan was in power. Khan, who became Prime Minister in August 2018, was dethroned in April 2022 after a section of legislators defected to the Opposition over the sinking economy and hostile foreign policies towards the US.

Pakistan is staring at the worst economic crisis as its forex reserves have plummeted to an eight-year low of $5 billion dollar, enough for just three weeks of imports. Overall inflation soared to 25 per cent in December, making prices of household items unaffordable for a large section of people leading to riot-like situations in Sindh, Balochistan, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.  

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif last Saturday said it was a matter of shame that a country, which was a nuclear power, had to beg due to a faltering economy.

Pakistan's Former High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit also commented on PM Modi's speech and said while it was different matter what role he played in the crisis, the current situation hurts. He also lamented at the way Pakistan is organisaing events to get funds to rebuild the country which was ravaged by record floods.

"When events are organised to collect funds it shows we don't have the capability to face a such natural disaster," he said. "I can understand the scale of disaster but our self-esteem hurts when we go and literally beg for money...give whatever name you want to give it but we are begging," Basit said in a video message on January 13.

The former high commissioner said that while India would like to see Pakistan in trouble, Islamabad also did not leave any chance to remain entangled in such a mess and did not create any situation for improvement.