Pakistan on Friday lashed out at India for accusing it of harbouring Osama bin Laden, its foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari telling the media at the United Nations: “Osama bin Laden is dead but the Butcher of Gujarat lives. And, he is the Prime Minister of India.”
India responded sharply, issuing a long statement condemning the “uncivilised” remarks. External affairs ministry spokesman Arindam Bagchi said: “These comments are a new low, even for Pakistan.”
Bagchi recalled the genocide in East Pakistan that led to the creation of Bangladesh in 1971 and the terrorist attacks in cities across the world that bear the fingerprints of Pakistan-sponsored terrorist groups, and said no other country had as many UN-designated terrorists as Pakistan.
At a news conference at the UN, Bilawal had been asked about Indian foreign minister S. Jaishankar on Thursday bringing up bin Laden, whose killing by US special forces in a stealth operation not far from Pakistan’s premier military training academy put Islamabad’s deep state on the back foot.
Referring to a US visa ban on Narendra Modi, imposed after the 2002 riots in Gujarat and lifted once the BJP won the 2014 elections under him, Bilawal said: “He was banned from entering this country till he became Prime Minister.”
He added: “This is the Prime Minister of the RSS and the foreign minister of the RSS. What is the RSS? The RSS draws its inspiration from Hitler’s SS.”
Gandhi reference
Bilawal then brought up Jaishankar’s unveiling of a statue of Mahatma Gandhi at the UN in New York.
“If the foreign minister of India was being honest, then he knows as well as I that the RSS does not believe in Gandhi, in the ideology of Gandhi, in the manifesto of Gandhi. They do not see this individual as the founder of India. They hero-worship the terrorist that assassinated Gandhi,” he said.
Bilawal also flagged the pardon granted to the rapist-murderers in the Bilkis Bano case ahead of the Gujarat elections.
Spokesperson Bagchi said Pakistan lacked the credentials to cast aspersions on India. Bilawal’s outburst “seems to be a result of Pakistan’s increasing inability to use terrorists and their proxies” as his country’s role in sponsoring terrorists “remains under the scanner”, he said.
In an uncharacteristically long response, India said New York, Mumbai, Pulwama, Pathankot and London were among the many cities that bore the scars of terrorism sponsored, supported and instigated by Pakistan.
“‘Make in Pakistan’ terrorism has to stop,” Bagchi said. India said Pakistan glorified Osama as a martyr and sheltered terrorists like Lakhvi, Hafiz Saeed, Masood Azhar, Sajid Mir and Dawood Ibrahim.
The BJP called Bilawal’s remarks “shameful and derogatory” and said it would hold protests on Saturday.
“Does Bilawal Bhutto even have the stature to comment about our Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi who is a true statesman and a highly respected global leader?” the BJP asked.
