When a joint statement was released by the United States and India, Asif responded.
The Defense Minister has accused Modi of supervising a pogrom against Muslims and has criticized the United States for its “failed interventions.”
On Friday, Defense Minister Khawaja Asif slammed the United States and India for making a joint statement urging Pakistan to prevent extremist acts from occurring on its soil.
Asif took significant offense to the comment, pointing out “the irony of this statement coming during the visit of someone who was banned entry to the US for overseeing a pogrom of Muslims when he was CM Gujarat.” the minister tweeted, “he leads yet another campaign of state-sponsored terrorism in Kashmir, which includes routinely maiming and blinding the local population,” referring to the activities of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
And “across the rest of the country, Modi’s acolytes lynch Muslims, Christians, and other minorities, with impunity,” he continued.
The defense minister further noted that “Pakistan has lost countless lives and been continuously at war with terrorism for decades now” because of disastrous American engagements in the region.
Maybe President Biden should think about these realities before he next fetes the Butcher of Gujarat, Asif suggested.
Both Modi and Biden “strongly condemned cross-border terrorism, the use of terrorist proxies, and called on Pakistan to take immediate action to ensure that no territory under its control is used for launching terrorist attacks,” according to a statement released by the White House yesterday.
In a joint statement, the two leaders had stated, “President Biden and Prime Minister Modi reiterated the call for concerted action against all UN-listed terrorist groups, including Al Qaeda, ISIS/Daesh, Lashkar e-Tayyiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), and Hizb-ul-Mujhahideen.”
Modi wants to increase India’s influence as the most populous nation in the world, while Washington wants India to provide a strategic counterweight to China.
However, India and Pakistan’s ties have been tense for a long time despite the fact that they are nuclear-armed neighbors. India and Pakistan have gone to war three times since the end of British colonial authority in 1947, twice of them over the Muslim-majority Himalayan territory of Kashmir.
Since the late 1980s, Indian security forces have been engaged in conflict with insurgents who India accuses of receiving support from Pakistan. Pakistan says it solely offers spiritual and diplomatic support to Kashmiris fighting for independence.
New Delhi divided the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir into two federally administered areas in 2019, rescinding the state’s unique status. Pakistan claims the actions are illegal and demands that they be reversed.
The two countries’ diplomatic ties were weakened as a result of India’s move.
The defense minister had earlier stated that Pakistan has no problem with the alliance between the United States and India “so long as it does not come at the expense of Pakistan.”
In an interview with Newsweek, the minister emphasized the value of cordial ties with regional allies like India, especially in light of the Kashmir dispute.
