ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office said on Saturday that Ind­ian Prime Minister Narendra Modi distorted the comments of Pakistan’s Science and Techno­logy Minister Fawad Chaudhry for domestic political gains and asked him to win voters’ support through performance instead of banking on Pakistan bashing.

“Pakistan categorically rej­ects the Indian Prime Minister’s insinuation of Pakistan’s involvement in the Pulwama attack by alluding to remarks made by a Minister in the National Assembly,” the FO said.

“This is a brazen attempt to twist the remarks of the Federal Minister, who was referring to the befitting response given by the Pakistan Armed Forces in broad day-light to India’s ill-conceived misadventure of 26 February 2019, in violation of the UN Charter and international law,” it added.

The FO was responding to PM Modi’s remarks at a ceremony held in Gujarat to mark the birth anniversary of Indian politician Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

Mr Modi in his speech, while addressing the domestic critics of his strategy for dealing with the Pulwama crisis, had said, “the truth was accepted in the parliament of our neighbouring country”.

Pakistan asks Indian PM to win voters’ support through performance instead of banking on Islamabad bashing

He, much like Indian media, was trying to misrepresent Minister Chaudhry’s remarks in the National Assembly.

Mr Chaudhry, while responding to a controversial statement by former speaker of the National Assembly Ayaz Sadiq, had said that Pakistan hit India inside the area it controls (Humne Hindustan ko ghus ke maara hai). He was referring to Pakistani fighter aircraft hitting targets across the Line of Control on Feb 27 in response to aerial incursion by Indian fighters a day earlier.

However, Indian media and now Mr Modi are using Mr Chaudhry’s statement to imply that Pakistan has accepted its involvement in the Pulwama attack that sparked the military confrontation in February 2019. Nearly 40 personnel of an Indian paramilitary force were killed in the Pulwama attack.

“To this day, India has failed to provide any credible evidence of Pakistan’s alleged involvement in the Pulwama attack,” the FO emphasised.

It recalled that the biggest beneficiary of the February 2019 Pulwama attack was the BJP government, as it resulted in BJP’s landslide victory in Lok Sabha elections following their virulent anti-Pakistan electoral campaign.

“It is the BJP leadership’s incurable obsession with Pakistan that impels them to invariably blame Pakistan for their own failings and shortcomings. Most notably, it has been a part and parcel of the BJP’s electoral strategy to raise the Pakistan ‘bogey’ in the attempt to galvanise voters’ support, while seeking to divert public attention from their domestic and foreign policy failures,” it noted.

The FO further advised the BJP regime to stop dragging Pakistan into India’s domestic politics, especially at the time of elections in India. “Instead of mobilising the electorate through stoking of anti-Pakistan sentiments, the BJP leadership would be well-advised to win voter support by demonstrating actual performance in meeting the expectations of the Indian people,” it maintained.

Published in Dawn, November 1st, 2020