#Politics | ‘India will host G20, Pakistan hosted Bin Laden’: BJP lays into Bilawal Bhutto over comments on PM Modi

Calling Bilawal’s statement “nefarious and shameful”, he said, “It might be an outcome of the pain in Pakistan of losing to India on this day. His maternal grandfather wept loudly after the defeat. Despite this, Pakistan’s soil is continuously trying to give protection to terrorists. Be it in Jammu and Kashmir or in different parts of India, it is not hidden from the world.”

Lashing out at Bilawal, Minister of State for External Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi said, “Normally that is not the way the External Affairs Minister of any sovereign nation speaks. But it is Pakistan. What can you expect from it? These are the people who have butchered people in Balochistan. These are the people who have butchered people in Kashmir. These are the butchers of Punjab. These are the butchers of Karachi.”

Lekhi said the Pakistani minister’s comments were a reflection of his own “mental deficiency and bankruptcy”. She added, “While India is working on startups and incubation, Pakistan is known as the incubator for terrorism. A bankrupt country is represented by intellectually bankrupt people who even don’t know how many times Pakistan has been on the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF),” she added.

The BJP’s foreign affairs department head Vijay Chauthaiwale said, “He is Pakistan’s pappu and remains one.”

“Pakistan is a morally, intellectually and financially bankrupt country. Because of their own deed which includes support to terrorists and making cross-border terrorism a policy, they have lost any credibility which they might have had. Bhutto’s comments are obviously condemnable. But he has no credibility on the world dais and nothing better is expected from him.”

In a video released on Twitter, BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala told Bilawal, “You are not the victim of terror. You are the victim of your own actions.”

Saying that the Pakistani minister has an “acute case of Indiaphobia, Hinduphobia and Modiphobia”, Poonawala said, “Before you speak of the Muslims in India, take a deep look at who’s killing the Shias and Agakhanis in Pakistan. Who is the butcher of Balochistan? Who is the persecutor of Ahmadiyas.”

He added, “I am thankful that when Jinnah decided to partition our nation, my family chose the right side. My nation is known for exporting vaccines and technologies, while your side is known for exporting terror. My nation will host G20. Your nation hosted Osama Bin Laden.”

The Ministry of External Affairs issued a statement saying the statements “are a new low, even for Pakistan”.

On Thursday, Zardari hit out at Modi while responding to India’s comments on Pakistan harbouring 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden. The comments came after India’s Minister of External Affairs minister S Jaishankar spoke sharply against Pakistan at a United Nations Security Council meeting.

“(I want to tell India) that Osama bin Laden is dead, but the butcher of Gujarat lives and he is the Prime Minister of India,” Zardari said. The Pakistan minister, who was in New York to participate in the UN meetings, said, “He (PM Modi) 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’.”

(With inputs from PTI)