Pakistan hurls ‘saffron terrorists’ accusation over PM insult protests in India

In the backdrop of the face-off between the Foreign Ministries of India and Pakistan engaging in a verbal duel with Pakistan making objectionable remarks against PM Modi, the Pakistan foreign ministry issued a statement and stated an atmosphere of animosity is being created in India by the ideology of Hindutva. Notably, the Pakistan Foreign Minister’s remarks against PM Modi triggered massive protests across India.

It also alleged of India’s hand in the 2021 terrorist attack in a city near Lahore, furthermore stating India has become uncomfortable because of the failure to isolate Pakistan internationally.      

Hindutva giving rise to ‘climate of hate’

Reiterating the accusations made earlier against PM Modi which resulted in protests across India, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry said the government is hiding the reality of the people killed in Gujarat during the riots following the Godhra killings. “Government has tried to hide behind subterfuge and canard to conceal the realities of the 2002 Gujarat massacre. It is a shameful story of mass killings, lynching, rape and plunder,” the Pakistan Foreign Ministry said. It also added the culprits behind the Gujarat massacre are now holding important positions in the central government. “The fact of the matter is that the masterminds of the Gujarat massacre have escaped justice and now hold key government positions in India. No verbosity can hide the crimes of the 'saffron terrorists' in India,” it noted.  

The statement by the Pakistan Foreign Ministry said Hindutva, the political ideology of the ruling party, has given rise to a climate of hate, divisiveness and impunity. “The culture of impunity is now deeply embedded in Hindutva-driven polity in India. The acquittal of the mastermind and perpetrators of the heinous attack on Delhi-Lahore Samjhota Express, which killed 40 Pakistani nationals on Indian soil, demonstrates the massacre of justice under the RSS-BJP dispensation,” the ministry pointed out. 

‘India peddling victimhood’: Pakistan Foreign Ministry

India is sponsoring terror in South Asia said the statement, “As it peddles a fictitious narrative of victimhood, it is itself a perpetrator of repression in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir and a sponsor and financier of terrorist groups in South Asia,” and added India was behind the Lahore attack. “Only this week, a dossier was released containing irrefutable evidence that substantiated India’s involvement in the 2021 terrorist attack in a peaceful Lahore neighbourhood. The evidence gathered with international support confirms that the Lahore attack was instigated, planned and financed by the Indian state,” it said.

Notably, both Pakistan and Indian Foreign Ministers exchanged heated arguments at the UNSC after India lashed out at the neighbouring country for giving a safe haven to Osama Bin Laden and also perpetrating an attack on the Indian parliament. In retaliation, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari termed PM Modi with ‘Butcher of Gujarat’ remark and equated him with Hitler.

IMAGE: Bilawal Bhutto / Twitter