The ruling BJP’s ally Shiv Sena on Friday had a sarcastic dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his “surprise” stop-over in lahore, by saying that his party would welcome Modi’s visit to Pakistan if it were to result in Islamabad handing over underworld don Dawood Ibrahim to India.
Reacting to Modi’s visit to Pakistan, Shiv Sena’s MP and spokesperson Sanjay Raut said: “It is a big thing that while returning to India from Afghanistan, our Prime Minister has stopped over in lahore to wish his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on his birthday. Tomorrow, Dawood is celebrating his birthday. News reports are that Nawaz Sharif, his colleagues, Pakistani military and cricketers are attending the meeting Dawood’s birthday”.
“What does that indicateIJ After Modi’s meeting with Sharif, if Pakistan hands over Dawood to India, then we would welcome our Prime Minister’s visit to lahore,” Raut said.
Raut said that the Sena was consistent in its stand that New Delhi should not have any relations with Pakistan till such time Islamabad continued to sponsor terrorism on Indian soil.
Expressing his serious doubts about Pakistan reining in terrorists from indulging in acts of subversive acts in Jammu and Kashmir, Raut said: “It was just yesterday that terrorists infiltrating into India attacked our soldiers, injuring 13 of them. The Pak-sponsored terrorist acts are continuing unabated. The situation in the valley state is very serious. Our Government can ill-afford to ignore the happenings in J & K”.
When his attention was drawn to former journalist and Chairman of Observer Research Foundation-Mumbai Sudheendra Kulkarni’s suggestion that Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray to visit Pakistan, Raut said: “No one knows or has heard of him”.