Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan tore into the Indian government on Sunday, questioning the safety of New Delhi’s nuclear weapons arsenal and urging the international community to step in.

In a series of tweets two days after failing to get the United Nations to hold an open and formal meeting on Jammu & Kashmir, Khan said the Narendra Modi government posed a threat to Pakistan and the region.

He also made an indirect reference to the National Register of Citizens, currently ongoing in Assam to weed out so-called illegal immigrants, and said that minorities were under threat under the Indian government.

“The world must also seriously consider the safety and security of India’s nuclear arsenal in the control of the fascist, racist Hindu Supremacist Modi government. This is an issue that impacts not just the region but the world,” he tweeted.

Khan’s comment came two days after Union defence minister Rajnath Singh hinted at a rethink of India’s no-first-use nuclear policy. At a closed-door consultation of the UN Security Council on Friday, Pakistan had found itself isolated with support only from its all-weather ally China. India’s envoy to the UN, Syed Akbaruddin, had said there was widespread acceptance of New Delhi’s commitment to deal with Kashmir bilaterally.

Khan said the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, and its ideological fountainhead, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, had a “doctrine of hate” that would spread until the international community acted; he also criticised the Supreme Court-monitored NRC exercise, saying four million Indian Muslims face detention camps and cancellation of citizenship. “The world must take note as this genie is out of the bottle,” he added.

First Published:
Aug 18, 2019 23:49 IST