Pakistan warns India’s actions could lead to repeat of deadly exodus

Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan says the Indian government’s actions in the disputed Kashmir and with regard to a new citizenship law could drive millions of Muslims from India in what could become another refugee crisis.

Addressing the Global Forum on Refugees in the Swiss city of Geneva on Tuesday, Khan said that those actions could lead to millions of Muslims fleeing India and creating “a refugee crisis that would dwarf other crises.”

He said such a crisis could even lead to a conflict between his country and India, both of which are nuclear-armed.

“We are worried there not only could be a refugee crisis, we are worried it could lead to a conflict between two nuclear-armed countries,” the Pakistani prime minister said, alarmingly.

The citizenship law makes it easy for non-Muslims from neighboring countries to gain citizenship in India.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government says the new law will save religious minorities such as Hindus and Christians from alleged persecution in neighboring Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan by offering them an easy path to Indian citizenship.

This is while the Rohingya Muslim minority from Myanmar has faced genocide in that country and is now almost entirely camped in a non-state-recognized status in Bangladesh.

The latest Indian law has brought several regions in the country to the brink, with Muslims fearing they might be under threat in India.

Khan’s modern-day warning has a historical precedent — involving exactly Pakistan and India.

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