‘Don’t make career out of anti-Pakistan rhetoric’, Islamabad advises top Indian general

Foreign Office assails Gen Bipin Rawat’s remarks saying they are reflective of his ‘patently politicised approach’

Pakistan has advised top Indian military General Bipin Rawat to focus on his professional domain instead of involving into political affairs “to make a career out of anti-Pakistan rhetoric”.

In a recent statement, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Gen Rawat claimed that despite various internal and external challenges, Pakistan continued to “profess” that Kashmir is their unfinished agenda.

“We strongly condemn Indian Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Gen Bipin Rawat's irresponsible and gratuitous remarks about Pakistan. The Indian CDS’s unabated anti-Pakistan vitriol is reflective both of his completely flawed understanding of Pakistan’s realities as well as his patently politicised approach,” the Foreign Office said in a statement on Friday.

Gen Rawat’s tirade is also illustrative of the RSS-BJP mindset — a dangerous mix of extremist “Hindutva” ideology and expansionist “Akhand Bharat” designs, it added.

It is a sad fact that this mindset has permeated the state institutions of India, including the armed forces, the communique said.

"The Indian CDS’s diatribe against Pakistan cannot divert attention from India’s myriad internal and external wrong doings."

The FO in a rebuttal said that as a consequence of the ‘Hindutva’ policies, religious places in India are regularly desecrated, mob lynchings take place with state complicity, and persecution of minorities and disadvantaged segments grows by the day. “Most notably, state-terrorism against innocent Kashmiris in IIOJK is pursued by India as an instrument of state policy.”

Gen Rawat would be well-advised to focus on his professional domain, rather than continuing to make a career out of anti-Pakistan rhetoric, it concluded.