Don't want "war of words": US on Zardari's derogatory remarks against PM Modi

The US has reacted to Pakistan's minister Bilawal's remark against PM Modi, saying it "doesn't want "war of words" between the two nations.

Washington, Dec 20: In a first response to Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari's derogatory remarks against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the United States said that it shared good relationship with both India and Pakistan and it wants a constructive dialogue between the two nations.

"The fact that we have partnerships with both countries makes us - of course leaves us not wanting to see a war of words between India and Pakistan. We would like to see constructive dialogue between India and Pakistan. We think that is for the betterment of the Pakistani people, for the Indian people. There is much work that we can do together bilaterally," US State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said, while responding to Zardari's comments against PM Modi during the regular briefing.

Price claimed that his country has a global strategic partnership with India and relations between New Delhi and Islamabad in America's mind is not zero-sum and the country does not view them in relation to one another. "We have 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. We see the importance - the indispensability really - of maintaining valuable partnerships with both our Indian and our Pakistani friends. Each of these relationships is - we don't view them in relation to the other. Each of these relationships also happens to be multifaceted," he added.

The US State Department Spokesperson said, "So even as we deepen our global strategic partnership with India, we are also - we also have a relationship in which we can be candid and frank with one another. Where we have disagreements or concerns, we voice those just as we would with our Pakistani friends as well."

India's Response

Responding to Bhutto's remarks, the official spokesperson for the MEA, Arindam Bagchi, said, "These comments are a new low, even for Pakistan. Pakistan foreign minister's frustration would be better directed towards the masterminds of terrorist enterprises in his own country, who have made terrorism a part of their state policy. Pakistan needs to change its own mindset or remain a pariah."

On Saturday, BJP workers also staged a protest and burned an effigy of Bilawal in the state capital Bhopal. On the other hand, the Pakistan Foreign Minister refused to bog down over the criticism and claimed that the protests against his comments in India will not scare Pakistan.

Bhutto has said that he is not afraid of PM Modi, RSS and the BJP. "If the purpose of these protests was to scare Pakistan, it would not work. We are not afraid of RSS. We are not afraid of Mr Modi. We are not afraid of the BJP. If they want to protest, they should," Zardari was quoted as saying by Dawn.