ISLAMABAD: The Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry on Wednesday said the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi should contest elections based on his performance, not enmity with Pakistan and the rhetoric of violence against Pakistan is just childish.“We believe that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is going into the election after five years and so he should run for elections based on his performance instead of taking up the policy of an anti-Pakistan stance, which we consider completely childish," the minister said. "You have been in power for five years. You should highlight what you did for the people of India and how well you have delivered on the promises made to the people," the minister suggested to Modi.
Fawad said the government is satisfied with the splendid way the Foreign Ministry had tackled this challenge. "Today India is standing alone in the whole world. Whether it is the EU, Islamic countries ... even Trump has given a statement on the issue. All these statements prove that the world is not accepting India's claim," he noted. The minister remarked, "We don't want to give further rise to tensions. We want to see them reduced and want to bring normalisation. This is why the prime minister categorically made an offer to India to investigate the Pulwama incident if they so desire or if they want to hold negotiations, we are ready for negotiations. And this is the way issues are dealt with between countries."
The minister said the people of Pakistan stand behind their government, their country and their army and, God willing, no one will ever be able to harm us in any way. He said the narrative being pushed by the BJP and some other extremist parties, the way Muslims in India are being targeted after the Pulwama incident, and especially the way Kashmiris are being targeted, are the matters of extreme concern for Pakistan. The minister emphasised that the international human rights bodies should look into this immediately. He pointed out that the prime minister has alerted the human rights organisations and the foreign minister had already taken action on the Kashmir issue. “We will continue to raise our voice on the matter and it now deserves to be looked at with greater scrutiny and seriousness," he argued. "We do not think any incident can be used as the basis for inciting violence among the people. This is a highly inappropriate response to the matter. None can cast an evil eye on Pakistan," he said.
Talking about Kulbhushan Jadhav, Fawad Chaudhry said that it is a childish behaviour by India to expect the acquittal, release and return of its spy Kulbhushan Jadhav, as he dubbed Indian arguments in the case childish at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Talking to media persons here, the minister emphasised, "These are nothing but childish pleas. And, like (Pakistan's lawyer) Khawar Qureshi said, "India is perched precariously on a flimsy wall of lies.” Fawad noted that the answers to certain questions posed by Pakistan were not submitted by India to the ICJ. He said Pakistan’s case was very strong and had been fought brilliantly.The first of these, he said, was a clarification sought over the retirement of Jadhav, as to when did Kulbhushan Jadhav actually retire? “If he retired at the age of 47, then you must show us a record of the same and explain why he retired before the usual age of retirement. The second question pertains to the spy's passport, found by British investigators to be authentic. So the second question posed by Islamabad's counsel was that why was Jadhav found to have an authentic Indian passport when he was arrested? Of course, an authentic Indian passport could not have been provided by us; he must have had it made from India," he said.
The minister continued, "India claims that Jadhav was abducted from the Iranian port city of Chabahar and brought to Pakistan. It is a nine-hour journey from Chabahar to Quetta. Our question is, if he travelled that distance, did you propose an investigation to Iran? Did you ask them if he disappeared from there, and how did it happen?". Fawad said, "We believe the brilliant manner in which Pakistan has presented its arguments in the ICJ, based on those arguments, a decision will be taken on merit and Pakistan's case is very strong."
He said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf parliamentary party meeting also condemned the aggression being shown by India after the Pulwama attack.