Indian Embassy in Kuwait slams Shashi Tharoor for retweeting 'anti-India' post by 'Pakistani agent'

India's embassy in capital of Kuwait took to Twitter on Friday to express its displeasure after senior parliamentarian, Shashi Tharoor retweeted a tweet by a lawyer, who claimed that 22 lawmakers of the emirate had demanded ban on entry of anyone linked to the Bharatiya Janata Party into the country.

The Embassy of India in Kuwait City accused Mejbel Al Sharika, a lawyer in the West Asian nation, of being an agent of Pakistan. Mejbel Al Sharika earlier tweeted a letter purportedly signed by 22 members of the National Assembly (parliament) of Kuwait, demanding prohibition on entry of any member of the BJP to protest the move to ban 'hijab' into educational institutions in Karnataka. Tharoor retweeted the tweet by Mejbel Al Sharika.

Also read | Hijab not essential practice of Islam, Karnataka govt tells High Court

“Sad to see an Hon’ble Member of Indian Parliament retweeting an anti-India tweet by a Pakistani agent who was recipient of a Pakistani Award ‘Ambassador of Peace’ for his anti-India activities,” the Embassy of India in Kuwait City posted on Twitter, apparently reacting to the retweet by Tharoor, a Congress MP from Kerala. “We should not encourage such anti-India elements”.

Mejbel Al Sharika is the director of the Centre for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law in the Kuwait Bar Association. He has been participating in several events apparently organised by Pakistan to run a propaganda campaign against India.

“A group of powerful Kuwaiti parliamentarians have demanded the Government of Kuwait to put an immediate ban on the entry of any member of the ruling BJP of India into Kuwait,” Mejbel Al Sharika tweeted, adding: “We cannot sit back and watch Muslim girls being publicly persecuted, they (the Kuwaiti MPs) said. Time for the Ummah (the community of Muslims) to unite”.

“Domestic actions have international repercussions. I hear from friends across the Gulf of their dismay at rising Islamophobia in India & (and) the PM’s unwillingness to condemn it, let alone act decisively against it. 'We like India. But don’t make it so hard for us to be your friends'.” Tharoor posted after retweeting Mejbel Al Sharika's tweet.

Mejbel Al Sharika also tweeted a video of a woman being forced to take off her 'hijab' before entering an educational institution in Karnataka.

India on February 12 dismissed as “motivated comments” a tweet by Rashad Hussain, the US Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom. Hussain had argued in the tweet that the ban on hijab in schools in Karnataka had violated religious freedom.

Check out DH's latest videos: