The foreign minister of Pakistan Bilawal Bhutto Zardari resorted to a vulgar personal attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. While international forums are no stranger to India-Pakistan political mudslinging, personal attacks are still rare. One such rare moment came on 15 December when Bilawal, while talking to the Pak media in New York, called Modi “the butcher of Gujarat.”
By making such a personal attack on an international forum he ended up exposing his pathetic ignorance about the ground realities. He should bear in mind that Pakistan, being the epicentre of global terrorism nurturing several deadly terror groups on its soil, is a thoroughly discredited country in the world and is least qualified to comment on elected prime ministers of other countries.
Unlike Pakistan where the military bosses dictate the country’s destiny and minorities have no rights, India is an open, free and secular nation and a vibrant democracy where diversity is celebrated and people of all faiths are treated equally. It is time Bilawal learned some history lessons, particularly concerning his own country, and look back at what happened in 1971 and how the formation of Bangladesh was a direct result of the genocide unleashed by Pakistani rulers against ethnic Bengalis and Hindus. About the current history, he should know that no other country can boast of having 126 UN-designated terrorists and 27 UN-designated terrorist entities operating on its soil. The perpetrators of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks, Hafiz Saeed, Masood Azhar and Sajid Mir, as well as the mastermind of the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts, Dawood Ibrahim, are roaming freely in Pakistan.
Cities like New York, Mumbai, Pulwama, Pathankot, and London are among the many that bear the scars of Pakistan-sponsored and instigated terrorism. Bilawal’s personal remark was uncalled for and at best avoidable.