Pakistan Crypto Council CEO Bilal bin Saqib is modest in claiming that Pakistan is a victim of bad PR. His country has an old tradition of outdoing India in the hospitality sector for influential state guests. For decades, Indian ambassadors have complained about their pitiful entertainment allowances compared to the lavish budgets of their Pakistani counterparts. The Pakistanis leave no stone unturned in entertaining VVIP foreign guests, from commandeering heritage monuments for throwing dinners to organising falconry and hunting parties of protected species for Middle East royalty. The Pakistani intelligentsia with aristocratic bloodlines and Oxbridge backgrounds have significant clout in Western liberal circles, including think tanks, NGOs, universities  and diplomatic parties. Modi’s India, painted by Pakistan as an illiberal democracy encouraging Hindutva zealots, is not a favourite in such company. (Ironically, during Operation Sindoor dissenting views within India reflected its plurality, while the Pakistani intelligentsia spoke in one voice while backing its military dictatorship against terror sponsorship charges).

One biased American legacy newspaper judged the military success of the two countries in the four-day war at par, even while displaying satellite imagery........

© Indian Express