Pakistani Minister Rehman Malik said before coming to India that his visit to the country was to improve relations between Pakistan and India. However, on the contrary the interior minister’s comments came as a shock and were considered as provocative and outlandish by the Indian ministers.
Malik’s comments outraged the Indian authorities to further alienate the ties between the two countries. The Pakistani minister’s three day long visit ended on December 16, 2012, before which he claimed that the three Indians involved in the Mumbai Terror Attacks in 2008, including Abu Jundal, Sahabuddin and Fahim Ansari were the agents of an elite Indian Intelligence Agency.
Rehman Malik also went on to compare the 26/11 attacks with the Babri Masjid demolition. Malik did not stop there, he added that Kargil martyr Saurabh Kalia might have succumbed to inclement weather. All such comments from the minister could not be digested by the Indian authorities.
Moreover, at the end of the interior minister’s visit, the Indian authorities also refused to have a joint press statement. Sushil Kumar Shinde, the Indian home minister was supposed to address the press together, which was also cancelled. On the other hand, Shinde, who was stunned by Malik’s statements, said that the Pakistani minister had spoken out of turn and should have restricted his statements only to the visa agreement.
