New Delhi, December 18
A Pakistani minister has resorted to nuclear threats in the ongoing spat between India and Pakistan that began with a verbal exchange between their Foreign Ministers in New York and has escalated after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s name was also dragged in.
Pakistan People’s Party leader and Minister Shazia Marri in an interaction with the local media said, “India should not forget that Pakistan has an atom bomb. Our nuclear status is not meant to remain silent. We will not back down if the need arises.”
She was holding a press conference to back Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari who is also the Chairman of PPP and his father is the President.
“If you keep making allegations against Pakistan again and again, Pakistan cannot keep listening silently, this will not happen,” she added. Pakistan Foreign Office has also complained that India is defaming Islamabad at all international forums.
Pakistan’s FM responded to inciting comments by the Indian Minister. Pakistan has sacrificed far more than India in the fight against terrorism,” she tweeted.
She later tried to retrieve ground by blaming the Indian media for creating panic. “Pakistan is a responsible nuclear state. Some elements in Indian media are trying to create panic. Pakistan’s FM responded to inciting comments by the Indian Minister. Pakistan has sacrificed far more than India in the fight against terrorism.Modi Sarkar is promoting extremism and fascism,” she tweeted.
The diplomatic spat began when External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar exercised the right to reply to Bhutto’s statement at a UNSC debate in which he raked the Kashmir issue. To Jaishankar’s retort that those who have hosted Osama shouldn’t sermonise before the UNSC, Bilawal said while Osama is dead, “the butcher of Gujarat is still alive and he’s the PM of India”.
Union Ministers Anurag Thakur and Meenkashi Lekhi as well as the MEA responded to Bilawal’s ‘uncivilised’ remarks, with MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi stating that, “these comments are a new low, even for Pakistan. Pakistan’s Foreign Minister’s frustration would be better directed towards the masterminds of terrorist enterprises in his own country, who have made terrorism a part of their state policy. Pakistan needs to change its own mindset or remain a pariah”.