Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari blasted the Indian Prime Minister’s BJP for announcing a bounty on his head of 20 million rupees ($240,000) for calling Narendra Modi “butcher of Gujrat”, saying the response shouldn’t be a threat of assassination as it has “crossed a line”.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Bilawal was asked to comment on India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar’s statement, calling Pakistan the epicenter of terrorism, to which Bilawal defended comments made last week at the United Nations Security Council in which he referred to Modi as the “butcher of Gujarat” and said the Indian leader’s political party draws inspiration from Adolf Hitler.

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He said he was “referring to the historical fact, and they believe that repeating history is a personal insult.” He also decried a member of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party who reportedly said he would give a 20 million rupee ($240,000) reward to anyone who would behead the Pakistani politician.

“If I’m quoting somebody else, and speaking about a historical fact that Mr. Modi would prefer we forget about, the response shouldn’t be a threat of assassination,” Bilawal said, adding that the death threat “crossed a line.”

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Bilawal said Muslims in India were being tortured by Narendra Modi’s party and added that Indian government was committing extreme atrocities in Gujarat.

Foreign Minister Bilawal also said comments from a colleague who said “India should not forget that Pakistan has an atom bomb” were not cause for alarm.

“That was not a threat for nuclear war,” he said. “No one thinks nuclear war is an appropriate reaction.”

Replying to a question, Bilawal said that in the current situation, early elections were not in the country s interest. He said Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chief Imran Khan was harming the country with unjustified protests. He said that it was very unfortunate that Imran Khan talked about election at a time when the country was passing through a very difficult period.

Replying to another question, Bilawal said that unprecedented floods in Pakistan in August left a vast devastation and there was a huge responsibility of the international community to support Pakistan.

He said the calamitous floods killed more than 1,700 people, inundated third of the nation and cut the nation’s growth by half. The floods have left about $32 billion in damages and losses to the nation’s economy, he added.

Bilawal said according to the United Nations, the global community died not provide enough funds after the devastating floods in Pakistan and that might lead to the suspension of its food support programme next month.

The UN and Pakistan’s joint appeal garnered only about 30% of the $816 million funds requested, according to Julien Harneis, UN resident and humanitarian coordinator in Pakistan. They will seek more funds at a conference in Geneva, Switzerland, scheduled for Jan. 9.

FM commends Pakistani-American community’s role in strong Pak-US ties  

Separately, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari also met with leaders of Pakistani-American community in Washington. 

During his meeting, he eulogized the role of Pakistani diaspora in establishing strong Pak-US relations, besides commending their continued support in the national development.

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