KARACHI: Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has defended comments about Indian leader Narendra Modi that sparked an uproar between the long-feuding neighbors, as rhetoric heats up ahead of national elections coming soon in both countries.
In an interview with Bloomberg, he was asked to comment on India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar’s statement, calling Pakistan the epicenter of terrorism, to which Bilawal defended comments made last week at the United Nations Security Council in which he referred to Modi as the “butcher of Gujarat” and said the Indian leader’s political party draws inspiration from Adolf Hitler.
He said he was “referring to the historical fact, and they believe that repeating history is a personal insult.” He also decried a member of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party who reportedly said he would give a 20 million rupee ($240,000) reward to anyone who would behead the Pakistani politician.
“If I’m quoting somebody else, and speaking about a historical fact that Mr. Modi would prefer we forget about, the response shouldn’t be a threat of assassination,” Zardari said, adding that the death threat “crossed a line.”
Zardari also said comments from a colleague who said “India should not forget that Pakistan has an atom bomb” were not cause for alarm.
“That was not a threat for nuclear war,” he said. “No one thinks nuclear war is an appropriate reaction.”
