Imran Khan’s rage against the Kashmir machinery | ORF

Imran Khan has changed many avatars in the last two decades; from political outsider, to serious candidate, to viable opposition, to now Prime Minister. But the more radical transformation has taken place in the last two weeks.

Pakistan has long professed that Kashmir is its jugular vein. Naysayers may scoff, but the Modi government’s landmark decision to abrogate Article 370 has certainly pricked a nerve in Islamabad, and the anger has spilled into the streets of Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi.

But before the August 5 decision, Imran Khan was on cloud nine. Days earlier, Khan returned to Islamabad and crooned that the sentiment was that of winning the “World Cup” after what was perceived as a successful visit to Washington DC. A Modi-style grandiose interaction with the Pakistani populace, a well-coordinated press conference with President Donald Trump, the inadvertent gaffe by the POTUS to mediate on Kashmir, and a convivial Q&A session at a leading think-tank to round up the proverbial cherry on Khan’s trip.

It was as if Khan had effortlessly found the ‘button’ to magically reset US-Pakistan relations which hit nadir after years of mistrust. If the Kaptaan said that he felt like he won the ‘World Cup’, the events of August 5 have now made him feel like he has been dropped from the squad. Kashmir…