Modi sees Pakistan as obstacle in India’s hegemonic designs: Sheikh Rasheed

RAWALPINDI: Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed said on Wednesday that Narendra Modi sees Pakistan as the only obstacle in the way of India's hegemonic designs in the region and beyond.

Addressing a ceremony in Rawalpindi to express solidarity with the people of occupied Kashmir, Rasheed said the Indian prime minister’s Hindutva ideology meant India was no longer a secular country.

Fascist Modi is promoting Hindutva and Hindu terrorism in India. India is no longer a secular country,” the railways minister said, adding that Modi saw Pakistan as the only obstacle in the way of establishing India's hegemony in the region and beyond.

Rasheed urged the international community to shun its silence on the plight of Kashmiris suffering atrocities at the hands of Indian troops. 

He expressed his disappointment at the failure of the United Nations Security Council to resolve the Kashmir crisis, and said Pakistan should not attach much hope to the UN and United States in resolving the dispute. 

Kashmiri people have been struggling and rendering sacrifices over the last seven decades for their right to self-determination, he lamented.

“The people of Kashmir are looking towards Pakistan and we need to rise above our differences and stand shoulder to shoulder with them,” the minister said, adding that the entire Pakistani nation stood by the Kashmiris in their just struggle for the right to self-determination.

He further expressed hope that Pakistanis would turn out in big numbers on Friday to express solidarity with the Kashmiri people as asked by Prime Minister Imran Khan.