Even as hostilities rise between the two nuclear weapon countries, India has strongly rebuked Pakistan’s attempts to exploit its citizens’ right to free speech for propaganda purposes.
On Friday, Foreign Secretary Shri Vikram Misri noted Pakistan’s attempts to exploit the Indian public’s constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech rights.
“We have seen in some of the remarks that have been shown on television that the Pakistani army spokesman seems to take great joy at the fact that the Indian public should criticise the government of India with regard to various issues,” Mishri said during a Ministry of External Affairs and Defense briefing on Saturday morning.
“It may be a surprise to Pakistan to see citizens criticising their own government. That is the hallmark of an open and functioning democracy. Pakistan’s unfamiliarity with that, again, should not be surprising,” Misri said.
The rebuke from the Foreign Secretary comes after Pakistani authorities selectively picked up old statements made by former Governor Satpal Malik on the Pulwama Attack of 2019 to further their narrative against India.
In a recent press briefing, DG ISPR Lieutenant General Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry showed old footage of former Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik to the international media.
Chaudhry had said that India orchestrated the Pulwama attack in 2019. He drew parallels between the Pulwama and Pahalgam attacks, insinuating India’s role. Chaudhry then showed Malik’s video to prove his point.
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Published on May 10, 2025