Not Saqlain Mushtaq, Pakistan's all-time greatest spinner is Hamid Mir

India Today

02-07-2025

With 208 wickets in just 49 Tests at an average of 29.83, many would call Saqlain Mushtaq Pakistan's greatest spinner. Traditionalists with white-kit nostalgia might still vouch for the legendary leggie Abdul Qadir. But that's all for on-field action. Off it, long after these men stopped turning the cherry, senior journalist Hamid Mir, of late, emerged as Pakistan's biggest spinner. Not of cricket balls, but of theories and facts, twisting and turning them at will.Seasoned Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir has a history of bold assertions. However, his statements and views on India and its leadership, particularly Prime Minister Narendra Modi, since May have drawn scrutiny for their inflammatory and outlandish nature.From accusing India of "state-sponsored terrorism" to alleging an "Akhand Bharat plan to forcibly convert minorities", to claims about New Delhi's Operation Sindoor strikes and a "Zionism-Hindutva alliance", the journalist, author, and columnist left no theory untouched. From challenging the establishment to towing its kingpin, Field Marshal Asim Munir's lines, Mir's shift is remarkable and hard to miss.Of all the bizarre theories Hamid Mir spun, mostly shared on his X handle, the most recent one seemed all over the place.Mir alleged that India and Israel were planning a joint attack on Pakistan. In his June 30 piece in Geo News, he claimed that Modi and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu were determined to carry out the strike before October. Why? Because, according to Mir, Modi needs to win Bihar.Naturally, the comments section was flooded with bewildered Indians, with some even schooling Mir.OPERATION SINDOOR'S CIVILIAN CASUALTIES?On May 7, when Indian forces launched Operation Sindoor weeks after the Pahalgam terror attack, Mir alleged that India's military operation targeted civilians rather than terrorists, as India claimed."Indians have used stand-off weapons from their own territory and issued press releases that they attacked terrorists at nine points. In fact, Indians attacked civilians and civil casualties have occurred. Evidence of civilian casualties is available, Mir wrote on X.While Pakistan's military reported 31 civilian deaths, India maintained the "precise" strikes targeted terror heavens of Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba infrastructure, killing over 100 of them.Indian fact-checkers and the Press Information Bureau (PIB) debunked the Pakistani claims. No independent verification, since, has confirmed Mir's claims of civilian casualties in Pakistan.AKHAND BHARAT RHETORIC BY HAMID MIRThen on June 2, Mir escalated his rhetoric, calling for a united front for South Asian countries at the UN to oppose India's "Akhand Bharat plan", accusing the BJP and the RSS of aiming to "convert Muslims, Christians, and Sikhs to Hinduism".He claimed to have laid out "undeniable facts". But what he actually presented were a series of familiar allegations against the BJP-RSS combine, that routinely surface in India's political discourse to make headlines every other day as controversies.The assertion lacked evidence, as no official Indian policy endorses forced conversions or the "Akhand Bharat" concept, an idea which goes against India's policy of respecting sovereign neighbours, a stance PM Modi has repeatedly emphasised on by advocating "peaceful coexistence and regional cooperation".MODI'S G7 APPEARANCE EXPOSED MIR'S FAKE-NEWS INDUSTRYThe very next day, Mir claimed on X that India was excluded from the G7 summit in Canada due to "state-sponsored terrorism" by the Modi government.Three days later Modi received and accepted an invitation from Canadian PM Mark Carney. Modi attended the G7 summit as an outreach guest and India participated in the Energy Security session. He met several world leaders, directly contradicting Mir's claim.It is from the summit where Modi over phone refuted US President Donald Trump's ceasefire mediation calls, after Trump had to rush back home to take care of the escalating crisis in the Middle East.MIR'S CLAIM OF SECRET INDIA-ISRAEL ATTACK PLANMir's most provocative loose talk came on June 30 in a Geo News piece titled, 'Why are Israel and India planning to attack Pakistan before October 2025?'He alleged a secret India-Israel alliance, driven by "Zionism and Hindutva", was plotting to attack Pakistan's nuclear facilities before October 2025 ahead of the election in Bihar.Citing an X post by Israeli professor Meir Masri and a Modern Diplomacy article by Canadian geopolitical analyst Julian Spencer-Churchill, Mir suggested Israel and India aimed to "denuclearise" Pakistan, using Indian bases for drone and missile strikes.He claimed India's purchase of Israeli drones, like the Hermes 900, and the Adani-Elbit joint venture signalled this intent. However, Mir's and Spencer-Churchill's pieces seem speculative. They lack concrete evidence of such plans, and no credible intelligence report corroborates an imminent India-Israel attack on Pakistan.In the article, Mir seemed to cobble a narrative from fragments, conjectures, the Indian Opposition's rhetoric, and baseless claims, something uncharacteristic curious embrace of his stature and a curious embrace of the establishment's line.In the end, it's almost poetic. The man, who was once the establishment's loud critic, and narrowly survived two assassination attempts, now spins theories that would make the GHQ and its master, who said Hindus and Muslims are different, nod in approval. Hamid Mir's deliveries have turned into half-volleys. Mir has emerged as Pakistan's biggest spinner, but at the cost of his credibility.- EndsMust Watch
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