Daily Times

The Foreign Office Monday strongly condemned “unwarranted, gratuitous and provocative” comments by the Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, questioning established historical facts, leveling unfounded allegations in the context of terrorism, and hurling threats at 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,” said the Foreign Office spokesperson in response to the Indian minister’s statement at an event in New Delhi on Sunday.

He said the timing of the 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 was nothing but further evidence of India’s irresponsible behavior 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 Kashmiris in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJ&K).

Meanwhile, Foreign Office Spokesperson Asim Iftikhar Ahmad 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 stand by its brothers and sisters. “Pakistan has always stood by its brothers and sisters in Afghanistan,” he said in a tweet. He 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.