Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur on Friday slammed Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari's personal attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi as “extremely nefarious and shameful”.
Thakur said Pakistan remained a haven for terrorism with the direct support from the government.
"The statement of the Foreign Minister of Pakistan is extremely nefarious and shameful. This is the reflection of the pain of their defeat at the hands of India in 1971 on this very day,” Thakur told reporters, referring to the surrender of the Pakistan Army to India after the 13-day war that led to the liberation of Bangladesh on December 16, 1971.
Thakur said more than 93,000 Pakistani soldiers had surrendered before India and Bhutto's maternal grandfather wept bitterly.
The Union minister said the US killed al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in a midnight raid in Pakistan and asked Bhutto to focus on eliminating terrorism from his own country.
"Today Pakistan is father, mother and shelter of terrorism. Everyone knows where one has to enter to kill terrorists. Pakistan cannot hide its face from this," Thakur said.
The Pakistani foreign minister resorted to a personal attack against Modi and slammed the RSS after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar highlighted Pakistan's support to various terror groups and described the country as the "epicentre of terrorism".
Published 16 December 2022, 15:01 IST