At the United Nations Security Council on Thursday, the ministers of India and Pakistan traded sharp words while the representatives of the two hostile neighbours accused one another of funding terrorist organisations in the area.
"[I want to tell India] that Osama bin Laden is dead, but the butcher of Gujarat lives, and he is the Prime Minister of India," Pakistan's Bilawal Bhutto Zardari yelled at his Indian counterpart S Jaishankar in New York on Thursday. "Until he was elected prime minister, he (PM Modi) was prohibited from entering this nation. The RSS's Foreign Minister and Prime Minister are pictured here. How does RSS work? Hitler's 'SS' served as inspiration for the RSS, Mr. Bhutto claimed.
After the riots in 2002, the US had refused Mr. Modi a visa, but before he was elected prime minister of India, the country issued him one.
Official estimates place the death toll from the widespread riots at 1,180, the majority of them Muslims. The Special Investigation Team (SIT) report on the riots was dismissed by India's Supreme Court earlier this year, clearing Mr. Modi and 62 other senior government officials of charges that the government failed to take action to put an end to the riots.
The comments made by Mr. Bhutto Zardari appeared to refer to the riots that occurred in Gujarat, India, in 2002, when the current Indian prime minister Narendra Modi served as the state's chief minister.
Using even harsher language, India attacked the Pakistani minister on Friday, branding his "uncivilised" comments a "new low" and referring to the day of December 16, 1971, when the Pakistani army in Dhaka submitted, resulting in the founding of Bangladesh.
This, according to the nation's foreign affairs ministry, is "a direct outcome of the genocide unleashed by Pakistani rulers against ethnic Bengalis and Hindus." "Pakistan FM's in-civil outburst seems to be the result of Pakistan's increasing inability to use terrorists and their proxies," the statement continued.
Mr. Bhutto Zardari's remarks followed his Indian counterpart's criticism of Pakistan for bringing up the divisive Kashmir issue in the UN.
According to The Indian Express, Mr. Jaishankar later said at the Security Council in response to a question from a Pakistani journalist that questions about terrorism should be directed at Pakistani ministers.
"You know, when you ask the minister how long will we do this, you're asking the wrong minister. Since Pakistan's Ministers will be the ones to tell you how long Pakistan plans to engage in terrorism, he said.
Although the two nuclear-armed neighbours frequently accuse one another of launching attacks on one another, tensions have been particularly high since a violent flashpoint in February 2019 that culminated in Pakistan shooting down an Indian fighter jet and capturing its pilot.
Particularly since India revoked the special status for the Jammu and Kashmir region in 2019, angering Pakistan, which also has a claim to the Himalayan territory, relations between the two nations have essentially been put on hold.
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