ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s government sacked a provincial minister on Tuesday for making offensive comments about Hindus, amid easing tensions with India after the two nuclear-armed neighbors came to the brink of war last month.
Punjab provincial Information Minister Fayyaz Chohan referred on Monday to Hindus, who number more than four million in Muslim-majority Pakistan, as “cow urine drinkers” in a highly charged speech against India.
The statement was immediately condemned on social media and by senior members of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s ruling party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) as hurtful to the country’s Hindu minority.
Chohan later said his comments were aimed at India and not Pakistani Hindus.
The federal government “has removed Fayyaz Chohan from the post of Punjab Information Minister following derogatory remarks about the Hindu community,” the PTI said on Twitter.
“Bashing someone’s faith should not be a part of any narrative.”
Pakistani politicians in the past have not been penalized for making offensive statements about minority communities. Chohan himself has previously been criticized for making derogatory statements about other minorities and about women.
Tensions between India and Pakistan escalated dramatically last month, after an Indian air strike on what it said was a militant group that had carried out a suicide attack in the Pulwama district of Indian-controlled Kashmir on Feb. 14.
The situation began improving after Pakistan last week released an Indian pilot who had been shot down in an aerial dog fight, in what Islamabad called a “goodwill gesture.”
Pakistan sacks provincial minister for anti-Hindu comments
Pakistan sacks provincial minister for anti-Hindu comments
- Punjab provincial Information Minister Fayyaz Chohan sacked for offensive comments
- Chohan later said comments were aimed at India and not Pakistani Hindus
Spanish PM Sanchez says US invasion of Greenland ‘would make Putin happiest man on earth’
- Sanchez said any military action by the US against Denmark’s vast Arctic island would damage NATO and legitimize the invasion of Ukraine by Russia
MADRID: Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said a US invasion of Greenland “would make Putin the happiest man on earth” in a newspaper interview published on Sunday.
Sanchez said any military action by the US against Denmark’s vast Arctic island would damage NATO and legitimize the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
“If we focus on Greenland, I have to say that a US invasion of that territory would make Vladimir Putin the happiest man in the world. Why? Because it would legitimize his attempted invasion of Ukraine,” he said in an interview in La Vanguardia newspaper.
“If the United States were to use force, it would be the death knell for NATO. Putin would be doubly happy.”
President Donald Trump on Saturday appeared to change tack over Greenland by vowing to implement a wave of increasing tariffs on European allies until the United States is allowed to buy Greenland.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said additional 10 percent import tariffs would take effect on February 1 on goods from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and Great Britain — all already subject to tariffs imposed by Trump.
Those tariffs would increase to 25 percent on June 1 and would continue until a deal was reached for the US to purchase Greenland, Trump wrote.
Trump has repeatedly insisted he will settle for nothing less than ownership of Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark. Leaders of both Denmark and Greenland have insisted the island is not for sale and does not want to be part of the United States.
