Days after India took strong offence to Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s remark disparaging PM Modi, reports have emerged that Jamiat Ulema-e- Islam (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazal ur Rehman, a key leader of the Pakistan coalition government, cancelled a planned 4-days trip to India this week.
According to reports, Fazal was scheduled to attend a religious event in Uttar Pradesh. However, the visit was cancelled as a result of Bilawal’s remarks, which not only sparked a new diplomatic spat but also sparked protests across India over Bilawal’s unwarranted and baseless allegations against PM Modi.
Notably, the already strained relations between India and Pakistan heightened after Pakistan’s foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari made a personal attack on PM Narendra Modi.
Pakistani foreign minister’s personal attack on PM Modi
Last week, in New York, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari called PM Narendra Modi the‘ butcher of Gujarat’. He also accused India of carrying out terror attacks in Pakistan and denied that Pakistan is sponsoring terrorism. He made the comments responding to remarks of Indian foreign minister S Jaishankar at the UNSC, where he had pointed out that Osama Bin Laden was found hiding in Pakistan.
Addressing a press conference after S Jaishankar directly slammed Pakistan for being a pro-terrorism country, Bilawal Bhutto said, “I will like to remind the honourable minister of external affairs of India, that Osama Bin Laden is dead, but the butcher of India lives. And he is the prime minister of India. He was banned from entering this country until he became the Prime Minister. This is the Prime Minister of the RSS and the Foreign Minister of the RSS. What is the RSS? The RSS takes inspiration from Hitler’s SS.”
India strongly condemns Pakistani foreign minister’s comments on PM Modi
The Pakistan Foreign Minister came under fire after he resorted to a personal attack against PM Modi and hit out at the RSS. The government of India strongly reacted stating that the comments of Bhutto are new low even for Pakistan. Calling it an uncivilised outburst of the Pakistan foreign minister, the statement said, “Pakistan FM’s uncivilised outburst seems to be a result of Pakistan’s increasing inability to use terrorists and their proxies.”
The visit by the JUI-F chairman would have been the first by a prominent Pakistani politician in more than four years. In 2018, a caretaker federal minister visited New Delhi to express Pakistan’s condolences on the death of former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
The BJP has also condemned the “highly shameful and derogatory” remarks of Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and announced to hold nationwide protests against the same.
Ajmer Dargah cleric lashes out at Pakistani minister for a personal attack on PM Modi
Notably, Hazrat Syed Naseeruddin Chishty, chairman of the All India Sufi Sajjadanshin Council and the successor of the spiritual leader of the Ajmer Dargah, had also slammed Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari for the ‘venomous language’ he used against India’s PM Narendra Modi.
Hitting out at the Pakistani minister for having the temerity to disparage India’s PM, Chisty warned the Pakistani minister against comparing “great country” India with his “unstable country”, stating that the Constitution of India guarantees freedom of religion to all. He reminded him how Muslims in India are “far more secure” and in “much better condition” than those in Pakistan.
It is important to note that the visit by the JUI-F chairman would have been the first by a prominent Pakistani politician in more than four years. In 2018, a caretaker federal minister visited New Delhi to express Pakistan’s condolences on the death of former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
