BJP, Cong unite to slam Nawaz’s address at UN
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress on Thursday came out all guns blazing against Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's address at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), questioning the neighbouring country's "complete denial" of terrorism that emanates from its soil. In a rare moment of unity, both flayed him for praising Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Burhan Wani killed in an encounter two months ago as a "young leader" whose life was cut short by the Indian forces.
Both warned him for meddling in India's internal affairs by raking up the Kashmir issue demanding release of all Kashmiri political prisoners and claiming that "Kashmiris want freedom from India."
BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav said Sharif was at his "pathetic best in his address". "He talked not like the supreme commander of Pakistan but like the supreme commander of Hizbul Mujahideen and such exposed his intentions to the world by openly championing the cause of a UN-designated terror organisation," he said. He demanded that Pakistan be declared a terrorist state since Sharif had established everything that India was saying about him and the Pakistan government.
Congress spokesman Abhishek Manu Singhvi attacked Sharif for attacking terrorism with self-denial of the terror unleashed by his country. "Pakistan doesn''t realise that when they speak like this they are making a joke out of themselves," he said, asserting that Pakistan is the biggest exporter of terrorism in the world.
Another Congress spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala said: "Travesty is that Pakistan still has the audacity to speak on terrorism."
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said Sharif's speech has confirmed that India doesn't need to waste time talking to the "gentleman" and rather needs to focus on different approaches to Pakistan. "Nawaz Sharif has become more and more disappointing. The same man had welcomed PM (Modi) for his birthday and is now hailing Burhan Wani," Tharoor said. Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrashekhar asked to repeal the ''most favoured nation" status given to Pakistan and also retract the economic benefits from India.