On Saturday, Pakistani People’s Party (PPP) leader and Minister for Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Shazia Marri threatened India with nuclear war, warning that Pakistan “has an atom bomb” and reminding New Delhi of Islamabad’s “nuclear status.”
She cautioned that if India “keeps making allegations” about Pakistani state-sponsored terrorism, it “cannot keep listening silently, this will not happen.”
Pakistan does not have nuclear weapons to “remain silent” and “knows how to answer,” she underscored.
Pakistan is a responsible nuclear state. Some elements in Indian media trying to create panic. Pakistan’s FM responded to inciting comments by Indian Minister. Pakistan has sacrificed far more than India in the fight against terrorism.Modi Sarkar is promoting extremism & fascism. https://t.co/3v4psXRfWk
— Shazia Atta Marri (@ShaziaAttaMarri) December 17, 2022
Marri held the press conference to support Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who recently spoke out against India at the United Nations (UN) and instigated a war of words with Indian leaders.
On Friday, the Pakistani foreign minister responded to his Indian counterpart’s comments on Pakistan housing now-deceased Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden. He said that while Bin Laden had already died, India is now led by the “butcher of Gujarat,” an apparent dig at PM Modi. He recalled that Modi was barred from entering the United States over his role in the 2002 Gujarat riots. The ban was only lifted once he became the Indian PM, Bhutto pointed out.
He claimed that India has distanced itself from Gandhian principles of non-violence and, in fact, celebrated the individual that assassinated the father of the Indian nation. In addition, he remarked that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, an affiliate of Modi’s Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), drew inspiration from Nazi ideologies.
On Thursday, Indian External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar slammed Pakistan’s recent criticisms about Indian state-sponsored terrorism, saying that questions about controlling the spread of terror need to be addressed to Pakistan.
Osama Bin Laden dead but the Butcher of Gujarat lives
— Ibrar Mir (BHUTTO), SVP PPP Europe (@IbrarAMir3) December 15, 2022
Modi was banned entering into USA till he became PM of India
Butcher of Gujarat became Butcher of Kashmir
RSS derived the inspiration from SS the elite force of Nazi Reich & Hitler & denies Mahatma Ghandi’s philosophy pic.twitter.com/55LmfgH4iQ
During a press stakeout along the sidelines of a United Nations Security Council conference on “Global Counterterrorism Approach: Challenges and War Forward,” the EAM said, “It is the minister of Pakistan who will tell how long Pakistan intends to practice terrorism.” He thus urged Pakistan to “act and try to be a good neighbour.”
Jaishankar described Pakistan as the “epicentre of terrorism.” Accusing it of developing “brain fog” during the pandemic, he emphasised Islamabad should remember that they already have “their fingerprints over a lot of activities in the region and beyond the region” before “indulging in the kind of fantasies that they do.”
At the conference, the Indian diplomat referenced the 26/11 attack on Mumbai in 2008, wherein Pakistani terrorists killed 12 police officers, 122 Indian civilians, and 26 foreign nationals.
Jaishankar has previously sharply retorted against Islamabad’s claims about the Indian state sponsoring terrorist activities in Pakistan, saying that the country “lacked the credentials to cast aspersions at India.” He opined that Pakistan could not “sermonise before [the] Council] as it hosted Osama bin Laden and orchestrated an attack on the Indian Parliament.
Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi, too, denounced Bhutto’s “uncivilised remarks,” saying his “outburst” was a reflection of Pakistan’s inability to curb terrorism and its proxies.
“These comments are a new low, even for Pakistan,” he said, highlighting Pakistan’s “indisputable role” in “sponsoring, harbouring, and actively financing terrorist and terrorist organisations.”
Statement at UNSC Briefing: Global Counter Terrorism Approach: Challenges and Way Forward. https://t.co/ncIbqsaWUu
— Dr. S. Jaishankar (@DrSJaishankar) December 15, 2022
Bagchi recalled the 1971 Bangladeshi Liberation War, noting that Pakistan committed genocide against Bengalis and Hindus. The spokesperson added that Pakistan “does not seem to have changed much in the treatment of its minorities,” making it poorly placed to point fingers against India.
He remarked that various cities across the globe have fallen victim to Pakistani state-sponsored terrorism, including New York and Mumbai. He also took Islamabad to task for of ‘glorifying’ and ‘sheltering’ terrorists like Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, Hafiz Saeed, Sajid Mir, and Dawood Ibrahim, saying Pakistan is home to 126 UN-designated terrorists and 27 UN-designated terrorist entities.
To this end, he 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.”
In a similar vein, Minister of State for External Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi noted that Modi has worked for the benefit of several other countries, including Pakistan.
Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Anurag Thakur, too, responded that the international community is well aware of Pakistan’s “actions and intentions,” highlighting how it has provided shelter to terrorists such as Osama bin Laden.
A local BJP leader in Uttar Pradesh also offered a Rs 2 crore ($250,000) bounty for anyone who beheads the Pakistani foreign minister, whose comments sparked widespread protests across India on Saturday, launched and organised by BJP workers.
Pakistan needs to answer for how long will it practice terrorism!
— BJP (@BJP4India) December 16, 2022
At the end of the day, the world is not forgetful.
The world does increasingly call out the countries and organisations indulged in terrorism.
- EAM Shri @DrSJaishankar pic.twitter.com/fBImMvivEi
Bhutto, however, said he is “not afraid of the RSS” or PM Modi. He clarified that it was not him who coined the term “butchers of Gujarat” but Indians themselves. He also spoke of the historical and recent attacks on Muslims in India.
Meanwhile, Pakistani Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said that Bagchi’s comments highlighted India’s attempts to “hide behind subterfuge and canard to conceal the realities of the 2002 Gujarat massacre.” She called the riots a “shameful story” and regretted that masterminds of the mass killings, lynching, rape, and plunder were later appointed to “key government positions in India.”
In this regard, she expressed concern about India’s “Saffron terrorists,” saying they perpetuate Hindutva political ideology amplifies “hate, divisiveness, and impunity.”
Last week. Pakistani Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar said Pakistan would present the international community, including the United Nations Security Council, with a dossier with evidence of Indian state-sponsored terrorism, including an attack on the home of Lashkar-e-Taiba co-founder and 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed that killed three people and injured 22.
A day earlier, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, too, claimed that Pakistan has “irrefutable evidence” of India’s involvement in “terror financing and subversive activities” in its territory.