Punjab Higher Education Minister Murad Raas is not known to shoot off his mouth regardless, anxious to get in his two cents’ worth on the topic of the day. For example, during the recent Tehriik Labbaik agitation, he was not heard. Thus his tweet on the recent outrage at Al-Aqsa Mosque, where Israeli police fired rubber bullets at Palestinian worshippers, was a bit of something out of the ordinary. But considering what he had to say, he would have been better advised to keep quiet. Critics have claimed that there is a fascination within the PTI with foreign affairs. Mr Raas seems to show that this is true, but that fascination is not very wise.
His Tweet asked disingenuously why the Palestinians were fighting with stones, and what had they done with all of the aid money they had received. Not only did he manage to go against his own party’s and leader’s line and fly in the face of the condemnation of Israel by the whole world, including many of its allies, but he managed to exhibit for the world to see his monumental ignorance. He seemed to be ignorant that the aid given the Palestinian Authority contained no money for any arms. He also showed his ignorance that the Palestine cause did not depend on foreign donations. He also does not seem to have noticed that the Palestinians are not fighting with stones, but with rockets. He also did not seem to take into account how Israel and its friends would give play to his Tweet, peddling the narrative that even Pakistan, a country that does not even recognize Israel as a country, is blaming the Palestinians for their current predicament.
While there is nothing for Mr Raas to do but retract his statement as quickly as possible, and try to beg forgiveness from his party leadership, and it is for that leadership to make it clear that there is no ambiguity about Pakistan’s position. Mr Raas should be an exception, not the rule.
