Mumbai, June 14 (IANS) The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena on Saturday lashed out at the BJP-led central government over the US inviting Pakistan Army Chief General Syed Asim Munir as chief guest on its Army Day, calling it a major diplomatic failure and an insult to India’s fight against terrorism.

In a strongly worded editorial in the party mouthpiece Saamana, the Thackeray camp said the move not only undermines India’s global efforts to isolate Pakistan over terrorism but also marks a “deliberate attempt to weaken India’s fight” under the Modi government.

“Pakistan’s General Munir has openly abused Hindus. The same man is now being honoured by America. Shouldn’t BJP’s Hindutva supporters be outraged? Or have these blind devotees now started performing aarti of President Trump too?” the editorial asked.

Slamming the Modi government’s silence on the development, the Saamana editorial said: “By specially inviting Munir, America has rubbed salt in India’s wounds. This is happening under Modi’s watch. If someone says 11 years of Modi rule have been wasted, how is that wrong?”

The editorial recalled how Osama bin Laden was given safe haven in Pakistan and killed there by US forces, and yet the US now chooses to honour the head of the same Pakistani military establishment.

“Al-Qaeda’s bin Laden was sheltered by the Pakistani Army and the ISI. Despite this, the US has extended its hand to the same Army by inviting its current chief.”

It further criticised US Army General Michael Kurilla’s recent comments praising Pakistan’s role in counter-terrorism, calling them “excessive” and contrary to India’s stand. “Kurilla not only claimed Pakistan was active in the fight against terrorism but also asserted that US ties with Pakistan would continue regardless of what PM Modi or India think.”

The editorial accused General Munir of consistently spreading anti-India rhetoric and glorifying terror attacks as acts of ‘freedom struggle’.

“This is the same Munir who helped wipe off the vermilion of 26 Hindu women — and yet he is now America’s official guest. And PM Modi remains silent.”

On the Kashmir situation, the Saamana editorial noted that attacks, including the one in Pahalgam, have become more brutal. “While India was retaliating strongly, US President Trump intervened and pressured Modi to agree to a ceasefire. That was no diplomatic triumph — it was surrender.”

Taking aim at what it called the BJP’s “self-congratulatory propaganda,” the editorial added: “Even as BJP MPs return from global PR tours and declare Modi’s diplomacy a grand success, they ignore how this surrender was dressed up as patriotism. All parties stood behind Modi after the Pahalgam attack, but now BJP has resumed attacking the opposition.”

“Did Trump mediate in the India-Pakistan conflict? Did Modi surrender after American pressure? If the Prime Minister won’t answer such burning questions, how is he a world-class diplomat?” the editorial questioned.

Mocking the BJP’s claims of strong governance, it said, “There should be celebrations among Modi’s followers — he has been PM for 11 years. But what has he achieved in these years? Even Modi’s staunchest devotees can’t explain what ‘Operation Sindoor’ achieved. The expectation was that he would bury Pakistan once and for all. But today, with China’s support, Pakistan seems to be gaining more ground.”

–IANS

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