Raj Thackeray bats for peace; Pakistan cites leader's comments

Mumbai: MNS chief Raj Thackeray Thursday said that war could never be the solution to any issue. In fact, war was damaging and took the country back on all levels, he said. Mr Thackeray was reacting to the India-Pakistan conflict.  Without mentioning the BJP or Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Mr Thackeray said, “If you take advantage of such a situation, it is not a sign of any good government and all power bearers should keep this in mind.”

He was under fire on social media when he indicated that the Pulwama attack could be a conspiracy by the Modi government and said that NSA Ajit Doval should be interrogated to know the “truth”.

Addressing a rally at Kolhapur, Mr Thackeray last Sunday alleged that the martyrs  of the attack were political victims. He also demanded that a thorough probe of Mr Doval be conducted.

Meanwhile,t the Pakistan media is using Mr Thackeray’s statement on the attack. According to Haqeeqat TV, a Pakistan-based You Tube channel, Mr Tha-ckeray has been quoted saying that the Pulwama attack was a political attack. The jawans had been killed as a political stunt and Doval should be arrested and interrogated to find out the truth. Mr Thackeray has also been quoted saying that the hukumat (government), whoever came to power, did a proxy attack and killed their soldiers. But since Modi came to power, the attack had crossed the line. However, the Indian media was not showing his statement but Mr Thac-keray’s statement had gone viral on social media, the channel claimed.