Two PMs, journos caught between a dehati aurat

Government officials of India and Pakistan were busy weathering the storm after Nawaz Sharif called his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh a dehati aurat during a private conversation with two journalists — Geo TV anchor Hamid Mir and NDTV group editor Barkha Dutt — in New York. Though the journalists tried to close the lid on the controversy, their tweets reflect that Sharif, angry with Singh for complaining about Pakistan to US president Barack Obama, did use the allegory of a quarrelsome dehati aurat often seeking mediation rather than settling scores herself. 

Mir felt Sharif was unhappy with Singh and smilingly told Barkha: ‘Looks like Manmohan Singh went to Obama not like India’s prime minister but like a dehati aurat to complain to Obama’. However, on Sunday he tweeted: “PM Nawaz never said anything derogatory against Manmohan.”

Disputing Mir, Barkha added that “Sharif’s allegorical account was all about how disputes should not involve third parties. Not once was a slur passed by him against the PM.” Sharif was upset that Pakistan (was) raised by India with Obama. In this context, he told an allegorical tale... “In Sharif’s tale, there was a dispute between two villagers, one was a woman. Story ended with how fights should be settled between parties,” she tweeted.

Both countries once again used the UN to settle scores and remind the world about “forgotten promises” and recycling terms like “jugular vein” and “integral part” to lay claim on J&K. Since the 2004 peace process both the countries had avoided making the UN a forum to level allegations.

Pakistan’s leading Urdu daily Jang hopes a small window will open after the meeting of the two prime ministers. Another leading daily Dunya wrote that Singh’s tough posturing has ended hopes of any breakthrough. The English daily The Nation reported from New York, quoting Sharif as saying “nobody should take offence at his remarks about Kashmir in his address to the UN General Assembly. I have tried to remind the United Nations that it should implement the resolutions passed by the Security Council.”

Quick denials
Hamid Mir on Sunday tweeted:  “PM Nawaz never said anything derogatory against Manmohan.” Barkha too, clarified that not once was a slur passed by Sharif against the Indian prime minister.