"He's the same man who claims to promote peace in Kashmir," Gautam Gambhir said of Imran Khan
Highlights
- Gautam Gambhir contrasted Imran Khan's UNGA speech with PM Modi's
- "Pakistan Army's puppet threatened a nuclear war": Gautam Gambhir
- PM Khan is the same man who claims to promote peace in Kashmir, he said
A day after Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, at the UN General Assembly, warned of a nuclear war with India, BJP MP Gautam Gambhir today contrasted his speech with the message of "peace and development" delivered by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"The time allotted to each country is 15 minutes. What one does with it shows character and intellect. @narendramodi Ji chose to talk about peace and development while Pakistan Army's puppet threatened a nuclear war. He is the same man who claims to promote peace in Kashmir," Mr Gambhir tweeted.
Both Mr Gambhir, who represents the East Delhi parliamentary constituency, and the Pakistani Prime Minister are former cricketers who have played for their national teams before joining politics.
On Friday, Mr Khan speaking at the UNGA had held out threats of a conventional war between the two nuclear-armed neighbours spinning out of control, with "consequences far beyond the borders". He singled out India's move last month to scrap special status to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 and divide the state into two Union Territories as a big escalation in already strained ties.
Mr Khan painted a chilling picture of bloodshed and terrorism as he attacked India in his extempore speech that lasted more than the 15 minutes allotted to him, following which India hit back at him.
"Prime Minister Khan's threat of unleashing nuclear devastation qualifies as brinkmanship, not statesmanship," Vidisha Maitra, First Secretary of the Foreign Ministry said at the United Nations, exercising India's right to reply.
In his first address at the UNGA, Mr Khan had said: "If a conventional war starts, anything could happen. But supposing, a country seven times smaller than its neighbour is faced with the choice - either you surrender or you fight for your freedom till death. What will we do? I asked myself this question. And my belief is there is no God but one. And we will fight. And when a nuclear armed country fights to the end, it will have consequences far beyond the borders."
Ties between India and Pakistan have been severely strained since February when a Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist blew himself up beside a convoy of the paramilitary CRPF, killing 40 soldiers, in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama.
There are also reports that a large number of terrorists on Pakistani soil are preparing to infiltrate into India after the government's Kashmir move on August 5.
This is not the first time Mr Gambhir has hit out at Pakistan over the Kashmir issue. Last month, former Pakistani cricketer Shahid Afridi's tweet on going to the Line of Control to "express solidarity with Kashmiri brethren" was criticised by Mr Gambhir.
"Some people never grow up, they play cricket but they never age. His brain doesn't grow either. If he wants to politicise everything, why doesn't he join politics but politics too needs people with maturity, which he lacks" Mr Gambhir said in Hindi.