Husain Haqqani’s metaphor was meant to elevate Pakistan’s negotiated play — but instead, it opened a floodgate of critiques that questioned not conscionable nan declare of victory, but nan very ground of nan communicative Islamabad is now trying to cement.
Pakistan is reframing nan caller ceasefire arsenic a negotiated masterstroke, utilizing it to task spot and strategical finesse astatine location and abroad. Through a coordinated media push and charismatic narratives, Islamabad is casting nan statement arsenic impervious of its resilience and speech acumen — coating it arsenic a triumph not conscionable complete escalation, but complete India’s subject posture itself.
Yet, not everyone is buying into nan spin. A caller effort by a erstwhile diplomat to romanticise nan ceasefire backfired spectacularly, triggering crisp rebuttals and a reality cheque connected societal media.
Husain Haqqani, Pakistan’s erstwhile ambassador to nan US, sparked a large wind online aft likening nan ceasefire to a maestro chess move that near India cornered.
If a chess subordinate thinks he is astir to checkmate nan other, would he work together to conscionable extremity nan crippled because nan different asks him to? 🤔
— Husain Haqqani (@husainhaqqani) May 24, 2025“If a chess subordinate thinks he is astir to checkmate nan other, would he work together to conscionable extremity nan crippled because nan different asks him to?” Haqqani posted connected X (formerly Twitter), trying to propose Islamabad forced New Delhi to nan table.
But nan affinity didn’t clasp up. Sushant Sareen, elder chap astatine nan Observer Research Foundation, was among nan first to antagonistic nan narrative.
“In a chess lucifer if 1 subordinate sees his main pieces taken retired and is fresh to concede nan match, nan different broadside will judge nan offer… now aft conceding nan match… nan losing broadside uses it to proclaim victory… past an alternate reality is created and internalised and nary magnitude of grounds aliases impervious is capable to change that neurosis,” Sareen wrote successful a scathing reply.
Others piled on.
“That’s what happens erstwhile a chess lucifer happens betwixt a Grandmaster and an amateur,” 1 personification commented. “The grandmaster wholly cleans up nan amateur’s army… gets an urgent call… and tells nan amateur to travel amended prepared adjacent time.”
Another said, “In a gentlemen's crippled yes. If nan force concedes conclusion you accept. The Indian Armed Forces are cleanable Gentlemen… Pakistani soldiers do not travel that code.”
Haqqani’s metaphor was meant to elevate Pakistan’s negotiated play — but instead, it opened a floodgate of critiques that questioned not conscionable nan declare of victory, but nan very ground of nan communicative Islamabad is now trying to cement.
Published on: May 24, 2025 3:52 PM IST