Pakistan's ruling coalition leader cancels India trip following outrage over Bilawal Bhutto's remark on PM Modi

New Delhi: Maulana Fazal ur Rehman, a significant member of the ruling coalition in Islamabad, canceled 4 days tour to India against the backdrop of anti-PM Modi remarks of Pak FM Bilawal Bhutto. Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman, the President of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F), played a key role in giving competition to Imran Khan when he was the Prime Minister. Rehman pledged to march toward Islamabad in 2019 until Imran Khan resigned as prime minister. He was also a member of the Pakistan Democratic movement, a coalition of opposition parties that was instrumental in overthrowing the Imran Khan administration. Rehman was scheduled to travel to India to attend the event, according to sources in the Pakistani media.

The last known visit by a Pakistan minister was when Syed Ali Zafar, the interim country's minister of law and justice, visited Delhi in August 2018 to extend Islamabad's condolences on the demise of former Indian PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee. During the visit, he met India's then-external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj.

The visit comes at a time when Pakistan's foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto made remarks against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi which New Delhi has termed as an "uncivilized outburst".  The Ministry of External Affairs in a statement said, "these comments are a new low, even for Pakistan.." pointing to the situation of minorities in his country and support to 'terrorists like Lakhvi, Hafiz Saeed, Masood Azhar, Sajid Mir, and Dawood Ibrahim'.