Pakistanis remain on their toes amid tensions with India. But the threat of war is unifying people in a country where many have become disenchanted with their civilian and military leadership.
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
People in Pakistan remain on high alert as tensions rise with India. But as Betsy Joles reports from Lahore, the threat of war is unifying people in a country where many have become disenchanted with their civilian and military leadership. And a warning – this piece contains sounds of explosions.
BETSY JOLES, BYLINE: When 35-year-old Shakeel Shah thinks about a possible war with India, his main concern isn’t his safety, but his livelihood. He gets paid by the day, and so every day away from work is a day without money.
SHAKEEL SHAH: (Speaking Urdu).
JOLES: He says, “how will we feed our kids if there’s a war and we’re sitting at home?” Shah is a furniture maker in Pakistan’s second-largest city, Lahore. This week, the Pakistani Army said that an Indian drone struck a military target in the city, and that has set Lahore on edge. But Shah says he has faith in one institution – the Pakistani Army.
SHAH: (Speaking Urdu).
JOLES: “Thank God,” he says. “We’re proud of our army. We know they are there for our protection. First,” he says, “the enemy will have to face them before they can reach us.”
India launched a series of strikes on Pakistan overnight Wednesday.
(SOUNDBITE OF EXPLOSIONS)
JOLES: This is audio of those strikes published by Pakistani media. The following day, India fanned drones across the border, including into Lahore. India said it was in response to a militant attack in late April, where gunmen killed 26 people, mostly Indian tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir. India claims the militants were in some way proxies of the Pakistani military. Pakistan denies any connection to the attack and says it will defend itself. Pakistanis have long rallied around their military, particularly in times of crisis. Rasul Bakhsh Rais is a professor emeritus at Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad.
RASUL BAKHSH RAIS: The military is obviously the force that takes the hit, and the people think that it is their national responsibility to stand with them.
JOLES: But public backing of the army has been shaken in the past two years, particularly after former Prime Minister Imran Khan was removed from power and later imprisoned on corruption charges. He’s arguably the country’s most popular leader. Many of his supporters blamed the military for his ouster, and exactly two years ago today, some of them stormed several military sites around the country. Rais says now, with possible war with India looming, many Pakistanis are putting these grievances on pause.
RAIS: People will continue to question the military’s interference in politics, but at the same time, would not like to appear to be speaking against it when it confronts the military might of India.
JOLES: The military is also seizing on this opportunity.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Singing in non-English language).
JOLES: This is a social media video published this week by the army’s media wing. It shows videos of tanks, marching soldiers and fiery explosions.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
JOLES: Pakistanis are now waiting to see how long their military and India will trade blows. Both countries have been using drones, and they’ve intensified shelling across Kashmir. That’s the Himalayan territory that’s divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by both. Online, Pakistanis are coming together to show support for their country. Bilal Hassan, a doctor in the port city of Karachi, says he has seen this on Instagram, where he frequently posts content for more than 200,000 followers.
BILAL HASSAN: Pakistanis, like, we disagree with one another a lot. We have issues with each other. We don’t trust our systems. But, you know, when someone from outside comes and picks on us, it’s, like, you just unite together. And that’s what has happened right now.
JOLES: Many of his followers are also from India. He says he’s gotten some criticism from Indian followers, but some of them also share the same view as him. Their message – we don’t want war.
For NPR News, I’m Betsy Joles in Lahore, Pakistan.
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