'Referring to historical fact’: Bilawal defends remarks against Modi

Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has said that he was referring to “a historical fact” when he described Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the “butcher of Gujarat".

In an interview with Bloomberg, Bilawal said the remarks he used were not his own.

"I did not call […] I did not invent the term ‘Butcher of Gujarat’ for Modi. The Muslims in India following the Gujarat riots used that term for Modi," he said.

“I believe I was referring to a historical fact, and they believe that repeating history is a personal insult,” Bilawal added.

Pakistan rejects India’s criticism of FM Bilawal’s Modi remarks

In his address at the United Nations last week, Bilawal had described Modi as the “butcher of Gujarat".

“Narendra Modi was banned from entering this country (the United States). These are the prime minister and foreign minister of RSS, which draws inspiration from Hitler’s SS,” Bilawal had said.

Washington ‘ready to assist’ Pakistan with TTP threats: US State Dept

Following his remarks, the Indian government criticised Bilawal’s statement, saying that Pakistan “lacked the credentials to cast aspersions at India”.

The US too commented, saying that it has a global strategic partnership with India.

"I have just spoken to the depth of our partnership with Pakistan. These relationships stand on their own; it is not zero-sum," US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said.

He further said that the US sees the importance of maintaining these valuable partnerships with our Indian and our Pakistani friends, adding that where "we have disagreements or concerns, we voice those just as we would with our Pakistani friends as well".