FO calls statement ‘a reflection of India’s frustration’
Pakistan on Saturday rejected the statement issued by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs on Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s ‘butcher of Gujarat’ remark about Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, calling it a “reflection of India’s growing frustration”.
Bilawal called Modi “Butcher of Gujarat”, a nickname he had earned for overseeing a pogrom of Muslims in Gujarat in 2002 when he was the state chief minister. Bilawal’s denunciation of Modi outraged India and triggered a call for a nationwide protest by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
“I would like to remind the Minister of External Affairs of India that Osama Bin Laden is dead but the Butcher of Gujarat lives and he is the prime minister of India.
Responding to media queries regarding the Indian MEA’s statement, Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said the statement is also a “reflection of India’s growing frustration over its failure in maligning and isolating Pakistan”.
She said after being unable to prevent Pakistan’s exit from the FATF grey list in October and the international recognition of Pakistan’s counterterrorism efforts, India is desperately using international platforms to advance its agenda to defame and target Pakistan.
The spokesperson said that with its statement, the Indian government is trying to “hide behind subterfuge and canard to conceal the realities of the 2002 Gujarat massacre”, which she called a shameful story of mass killings, lynching, rape, and plunder.
Further, Baloch said that the “masterminds” of the Gujarat massacre have escaped justice and now hold key government positions in India.
