Pakistan condemns Indian minister's 'provocative' remarks

FO says it is BJP’s special forte to misrepresent history

Pakistan on Monday strongly condemns the “unwarranted, gratuitous and provocative” comments by Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, questioning established historical facts, leveling unfounded allegations in the context of terrorism, and hurling threats against Pakistan.

A day earlier, Singh claimed that the 1971 war was a reminder that "India’s partition on religious lines was a historic mistake and that Pakistan has ever since continued to engage in a proxy-war against India", The Indian Express reported.

"Pakistan wants to break India by promoting terrorism and other anti-India activities. Indian forces foiled its plans in 1971 and now work is going on to eliminate roots of terrorism by our brave forces. We have won in the direct war, and will achieve victory in the proxy war as well," the report quoted the Indian minister as saying.

Read more: From plane hijacking to Mumbai, Pulwama attacks: Falsehood remains India’s statecraft

In response, Foreign Office spokesperson Asim Iftikhar Ahmad said that Pakistan strongly condemned Singh's "unwarranted, gratuitous and provocative comments [...] questioning established historical facts, levelling unfounded allegations in the context of terrorism and hurling threats against Pakistan".

“It is the BJP’s special forte to misrepresent history, resort to revisionism and delusional thinking, and indulge in false bravado. Such discourse is particularly evident whenever elections in key states in India are approaching,” the spokesperson said.

He said the timing of the Indian defence minister’s provocative rhetoric was, therefore, not surprising, as the BJP-RSS combine was desperate to win elections in Uttar Pradesh and other states, typically inciting hyper nationalism and seeking to advance the extremist ‘Hindutva’ agenda.

The spokesperson said the Indian defence minister’s chest-thumping and war-mongering is nothing but further evidence of India’s irresponsible behaviour and its relentless belligerence towards Pakistan.

He said as regards the issue of terrorism, the international community was well aware of how the Hindutva-inspired regime in India was carrying out state-terrorism against the Kashmiris in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

Also read: India’s soft power: how it blunted our narrative

In November last year, Pakistan also presented a comprehensive dossier with irrefutable evidence of the Indian government’s planning, aiding, abetting, financing and executing terrorist activities in Pakistan.

The spokesperson said the world was aware that Pakistan was fully capable of thwarting India’s aggressive designs.

The BJP leaders will be well-advised to desist from any ill-conceived misadventure and also stop dragging Pakistan in India’s domestic politics for electoral gains,” he said.

Meanwhile, Foreign Office spokesperson said that hosting of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) meeting on December 19 to consider the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan was continuation of Pakistan’s resolve to always stand by its brothers and sisters.

“Pakistan has always stood by its brothers and sisters in Afghanistan,” Asim Iftikhar said in a tweet posted on his social media account.

The Foreign Office spokesperson, in his tweet, also posted a video which depicted Pakistan’s efforts in providing humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan including the provision of Rs. 5 billion humanitarian aid by the government of Pakistan to the brotherly country in this hour of need.

The video also highlighted Pakistan’s facilitation in the evacuation of 80,000 individuals of 42 nationalities including diplomats, representatives of International NGOs and media from Afghanistan after the US withdrawal.

It was also highlighted in the video that Pakistan besides facilitating Afghanistan in recent years by opening new border crossing points and operationalizing Torkham border on 24/7 basis, also waived visa processing fee for Afghan applicants till December 31, 2021.