Pakistan condemns RSS chief’s “provocative” remarks of undoing partition

Islamabad: Pakistan on Saturday completely rejected and strongly condemned the highly provocative and irresponsible remarks by Mohan Bhagwat, chief of India’s Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), calling for “undoing” of the partition.

“This is not the first time that the RSS chief has publicly indulged in such delusional thinking and historical revisionism,” the Foreign Office spokesperson said in a statement.

He said Pakistan had repeatedly highlighted the threat posed to regional peace and stability by the toxic mix of the extremist ‘Hindutva’ ideology (Hindu Rashtra) and expansionist foreign policy (Akhand Bharat) being pursued by the ruling RSS-BJP dispensation in India.

In the internal context, he said that dangerous mindset aimed to completely marginalize and dispossess the minorities in India. In the external dimension, it posed an existential threat to all of India’s neighbours in South Asia.

The spokesperson said that the world was witness to the systematic usurpation of the rights of minorities, especially Muslims, in India and the unabated repression of Kashmiris in IIOJK.

The reckless misadventures of India, including in February 2019, that seriously imperiled regional peace and stability are also in front of the world, he added.

He said Pakistan had consistently opposed India’s hegemonic impulses and demonstrated a firm resolve to thwart any aggressive designs. While committed to peace, the people and armed forces of Pakistan are fully capable of defending the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country, he added.

“Those belonging to the BJP and its ideological fountainhead RSS would be well- advised to refrain from making such provocative and irresponsible statements, accept the established realities, and learn to follow the imperatives of peaceful coexistence,” the spokesperson remarked.