NEW DELHI: A day after Prime Minister Modi remarked Pakistan was increasingly getting isolated, an RSS affiliate has withdrawn its invite to Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit to an iftar party it’s organising at the Parliament House Annexe on July 2.
The RSS’ Muslim Rashtriya Manch said it was doing so because Basit had failed to condemn the Pampore attack, in which eight CRPF jawans were shot dead by terrorists. The organisation said it couldn’t throw an iftar party with the Pakistani envoy when soldiers were dying in terrorist attacks. Asked about the Pampore attacks, Basit said, “It’s the month of Ramzan. Let us focus on the iftar party. Let’s not talk politics, we can talk about the political party. We have a lot of time even after Ramzan. This is an iftar party. Let’s enjoy ourselves.” Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba had claimed responsibility for Saturday’s attack on the CRPF convoy, which caused the highest single-incident casualty in three years in militancy-hit Jammu & Kashmir.
The Manch sent the invitation last week apparently as part of the Sangh’s efforts to shed its anti-Muslim and anti-Pakistan image. In a rare TV interview on Monday, Modi said India’s sincerity in improving ties with Pakistan was evident to the world but Islamabad was creating hurdles to reconciliation.