BJD MP comes down heavily on Pak army spokesperson for remark on Christians in Odisha
By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR, DEC. 27: Rajya Sabha member and BJD spokesperson Dr Sasmit Patra has said Christians are “butchered” in Pakistan, not in Odisha.
His reaction came on Wednesday night in response to Pak army spokesman Asif Ghafoor over his dubious “Merry Christmas” greeting to the Christian community members in Odisha.
“Christians in Odisha are safe, strong and empowered. Not butchered as in Pakistan!” Dr Patra, who is a Christian, told Major General Asif Ghafoor of Pakistan’s Inter-Service Public Relations, on his twitter handle in response to the Pakistani army officer’s sarcastic greetings to Christians in Odisha.
Ghafoor had earlier tweeted, “Very Merry Christmas to Christians in Pakistan, across the globe and especially to the ones in the states of Odisha and alike under the Hindutva obsessed environment.”
Dr Patra, while rebuking Ghafoor, but also showed him a mirror reflecting Christians’ well-being and rise in Odisha and India, by citing a personal example.
“Please hear a young Christian MP (Patra himself) from Odisha (since you referred to Odisha), slamming Pakistan’s anti-minority barbarism before 170 countries this year at 141 Inter-Parliamentary Union, Belgrade,” added Dr Patra, in his tweet.
He also tagged with his tweet his speech at the IPU, Belgrade, in which he had come down heavily on Pakistan for its anti-minority policies to persecute them on religious grounds.
“It is shameful and derogatory, condemnable the kind of action Pakistan has been taking over the years. The minorities in Pakistan are fleeing Pakistan because Pakistan is perpetrating crimes on them. Can Pakistan confirm that it is home to 130 UN-designated terrorists and 25 terrorist entities listed in UN? Is this the agenda of Pakistan?,” Dr Patra is heard telling the IPU in his video footage, which he tagged in Tweeter handle for Ghafoor to have a look.
