Only a few days after Pakistan urged the international community to take notice of “Shiv Sena’s terrorist activities”, the Hindu right-wing party has thanked Islamabad for calling it a terrorist organisation.
“If Pakistan considers us as its enemy, it is a matter of pride. It is like getting Mahavir Chakra,” an editorial in Shiv Sena’s mouthpiece, Saamna, stated.
“Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray had said that it was a matter of pride for him to be in the hit list of Pakistani terror groups. Pakistan’s appeal from the international community against Shiv Sena is a stamp on our pure nationalism,” the article titled Shiv Sena ko Mahavir Chakra, Shukriya Pakistan said, according to India Today.
Last week, Pakistan appealed to the international community to take sharp note of what it called ‘the terrorist activities’ of India’s far-right Shiv Sena in a move likely to exacerbate ties between the two nuclear-armed neighbours.
“I agree with you that the international community should take note of the terrorist activities of this organisation. We have repeatedly expressed our concern on its activities,” Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Qazi Khalilullah said.
Shiv Sena, an ally of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has been in the headlines in recent weeks for its anti-Pakistan rhetoric and activities. The group, which is notorious for violence, has targeted even high-profile visitors from Pakistan including former foreign minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri and Ghazal maestro Ghulam Ali, and more recently, forced the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to cancel talks with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to revive bilateral cricketing ties.
