New Delhi: BJP and Islamabad establishment are engaged in a war of words – presumably to influence the Indian voters – with the latter threatening that Modi’s election would destabilize peace in the region and the former asking Pakistan to mind its own business.
The slander saga began with Modi promising to bring back Dawood Ibrahim, the notorious mobster accused of the 1993 serial bomb attacks and 2008 attack in Mumbai. BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi said Modi had never talked about attacking Pakistan and was instead questioning Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde’s attitude of making public the government’s efforts to bring back Dawood Ibrahim.
Pakistani interior minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said those who were giving statements that Pakistan is sheltering Dawood and launching operation on Pakistan soil “should realise that neither Pakistan is a weak country to be afraid of such threats, nor? Pakistani nation can be impressed with such irresponsible statements.”Â
Next came Pakistan’s claim describing Kashmir as the “jugular vein” of the country. Army chief Gen Raheel Sharif said Kashmir was an internationally recognised dispute which should be resolved in accordance with the wishes of the people of the land and in line with UN’s Security Council (UNSC) resolutions for peace in the region. “Pakistan army is in favour of peace but is always ready to respond to any aggression in befitting manner,” he said.
India responded unitedly saying the Valley is an “inalienable part of India”. Setting aside their differences over electoral politics, Congress and BJP sharply reacted to Pakistan Army Chief’s statement adding, “the real issue is that Pakistan is in illegal occupation of large parts of Jammu and Kashmir,” Union minister and Congress leader Manish Tewari said. While BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad condemned Gen Sharif’s statement, deeming it “totally unacceptable.”
“India knows how to handle its own strategic imperatives and requirements. But this is a case of gross interference. In this line, this kind of statement coming is grossly unfair, unwarranted. I condemn it on behalf of BJP and surely this time the foreign affairs minister with Government of India must take suitable appropriate response in this connection,” Prasad said.