India tells Pakistan: Don’t lecture us

New Delhi: India on Tuesday lashed out at Pakistan for “lecturing” it on democracy, pluralism and freedom of expression after Islamabad voiced concern over attempts in India to disrupt functions of its prominent personalities, including singer Ghulam Ali and former Pakistani foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri. It said “there is a need to ensure such incidents do not re-occur”.

 

Official sources in New Delhi hit back, saying absence of terrorism was central to bettering India-Pakistan relations. “(As if) Pakistan is the embodiment of tolerance, pluralism. India doesn’t need a lecture from Pakistan. If India has a shortcoming, it is capable of rectifying it,” an official said.

 

The Indian reaction came after the Pakistan foreign office said it “noted with concern attempts to disrupt functions organised in respect of prominent Pakistani personalities on visits to India”, referring to the cancellation of a cultural event by ghazal maestro Ghulam Ali and attempts to disrupt a function in Mumbai organised for its former foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri. 

 

“There is a need to ensure such incidents do not reoccur,” the foreign office in Islamabad said on Tuesday. Sources in New Delhi said India still remains interested in the NSA-level talks under the Ufa understanding but made it clear terrorism cannot be an instrument of statecraft.