Pakistan is reframing the latest ceasefire as a diplomatic masterstroke, utilizing it to undertaking energy and strategic finesse at dwelling and overseas. Via a coordinated media push and official narratives, Islamabad is casting the settlement as proof of its resilience and negotiation acumen — portray it as a victory not simply over escalation, however over India’s army posture itself.
But, not everyone seems to be shopping for into the spin. A latest try by a former diplomat to romanticise the ceasefire backfired spectacularly, triggering sharp rebuttals and a actuality test on social media.
Husain Haqqani, Pakistan’s former ambassador to the US, sparked a storm on-line after likening the ceasefire to a grasp chess transfer that left India cornered.
“If a chess participant thinks he’s about to checkmate the opposite, would he agree to simply finish the sport as a result of the opposite asks him to?” Haqqani posted on X (previously Twitter), making an attempt to recommend Islamabad compelled New Delhi to the desk.
However the analogy didn’t maintain up. Sushant Sareen, senior fellow on the Observer Analysis Basis, was among the many first to counter the narrative.
“In a chess match if one participant sees his major items taken out and is able to concede the match, the opposite aspect will settle for the supply… now after conceding the match… the shedding aspect makes use of it to proclaim victory… then an alternate actuality is created and internalised and no quantity of proof or proof is sufficient to alter that neurosis,” Sareen wrote in a scathing reply.
Others piled on.
“That’s what occurs when a chess match occurs between a Grandmaster and an beginner,” one consumer commented. “The grandmaster fully cleans up the beginner’s military… will get an pressing name… and tells the beginner to return higher ready subsequent time.”
One other stated, “In a gents’s recreation sure. If the opponent concedes defeat you settle for. The Indian Armed Forces are excellent Gents… Pakistani troopers don’t comply with that code.”
Haqqani’s metaphor was meant to raise Pakistan’s diplomatic play — however as an alternative, it opened a floodgate of critiques that questioned not simply the declare of victory, however the very foundation of the narrative Islamabad is now making an attempt to cement.
