India on Friday slammed Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari over his comments on Prime Minister Narendra Modi calling the attack a 'new low' even for the country.
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said, "the Foreign Minister of Pakistan has obviously forgotten this day in 1971, which was a direct result of the genocide unleashed by Pakistani rulers against ethnic Bengalis and Hindus. Unfortunately, Pakistan does not seem to have changed much in treating its minorities. It certainly lacks credentials to cast aspersions at India."
Speaking about terrorism in Pakistan, Bagchi said, "As recent conferences and events have demonstrated, counter-terrorism remains high on the global agenda. Pakistan’s fundamental role in sponsoring, harbouring, and actively financing terrorist and terrorist organisations remains under the scanner."
"Pakistan Finance Minister’s uncivilised outburst seems to be a result of Pakistan’s increasing inability to use terrorists and their proxies. Cities like New York, Mumbai, Pulwama, Pathankot and London are among the many that bear the scars of Pakistan-sponsored, supported and instigated terrorism. This violence has emanated from their Special Terrorist Zones and exported to all parts of the world. 'Make in Pakistan' terrorism has to stop."
He added, "Pakistan is a country that glorifies Osama bin Laden as a martyr, and shelters terrorists like Lakhvi, Hafiz Saeed, Masood Azhar, Sajid Mir and Dawood Ibrahim. No other country can boast having 126 UN-designated terrorists and 27 UN-designated terrorist entities."
He also said, "Pakistan FM’s frustration would be better directed towards the masterminds of terrorist enterprises in his own country, who have made terrorism a part of their State policy. Pakistan needs to change its own mindset or remain a pariah."
He advised Bhutto to while listening to the predicaments of a Mumbai nurse who saved the lives of 20 pregnant women during the Mumbai terror attacks at the UN Security Council. Bagchi said, "We wish that Pakistan FM would have listened more sincerely yesterday at the UN Security Council to the testimony of Ms Anjali Kulthe, a Mumbai nurse who saved the lives of 20 pregnant women from the bullets of the Pakistani terrorist Ajmal Kasab. Clearly, the Foreign Minister was more interested in whitewashing Pakistan’s role."
What did Pakistan's Finance Minister say?
Pakistan's Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto had tried to link PM Modi's name with the 2002 Gujarat riots while speaking during a press conference on the sidelines of the UNSC meeting. Bilawal Bhutto went on to accuse India of trying to destabilise Pakistan's Balochistan region. He said New Delhi was supporting terror activities in Pakistan.
Bilawal Bhutto's unsubstantiated statement came after India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's sharp remark in response to Pakistan Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar's recent allegation that "no country had used terrorism better than India".
Addressing reporters at the UN Security Council stakeout, Jaishankar said," In terms of what they are saying, the truth is everybody, the world today, sees them as the epicentre of terrorism."
"I know we've been through two and a half years of Covid and many of us have brain fog as a result. But I assure you the world has not forgotten where terrorism emanates from, who has their fingerprints over many activities in the region and beyond the region," he added.
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