Strongly reacting to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks that Pakistan is the “mother-ship of terrorism” , Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif’s advisor on foreign affairs Sartaj Aziz accused the Indian leader on Sunday of “misleading” the BRICS countries over the issue.
“Mr Modi is misleading his BRICS and BIMSTEC colleagues,” Aziz said.
He also alleged that the Indian leadership is “desperately trying to hide its brutalities” in Jammu and Kashmir.
Pakistan Foreign Office (FO) said that Aziz reacted strongly to Modi’s statement during his address at the BRICS summit in Goa in which he called Pakistan a “mothership” of terrorism world-wide.
Aziz said Pakistan joins all the members of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and BIMSTEC in condemning terrorism and reaffirms its full commitment to fight the menace of terrorism without discrimination, “including against the Indian state-sponsored terrorism on Pakistani soil”.
Aziz said the UN Human Rights high commissioner in Geneva and the secretary general of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) have called for sending a fact finding mission to Kashmir.
He said The UN and OIC have “rejected Indian attempts to equate Kashmiris’ movement for self-determination with terrorism.”
He said the UN has repeatedly emphasised that people fighting for their self-determination cannot be categorised as terrorists by the occupying state.
Accusing India of “terror financing”, Aziz said “India has no moral ground to even talk about counter-terrorism efforts let alone do the finger pointing.”
Building India’s case against Pakistan at the plenary session of the BRICS summit, Modi said “selective approaches to terrorist individuals and organisations” would not only be futile but also counter-productive.
His comments came amid efforts to persuade China and Russia to join New Delhi’s campaign to diplomatically isolate Pakistan, which India blames for cross-border terror and unrest in Kashmir.
PTI
