Pakistan's Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari claims his fiery remarks about Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are merely a "historic reality".
"I was referring to a historical reality. The remarks I used were not my own […] I did not invent the term 'Butcher of Gujarat' to describe Mr Modi. The Muslims in India have applied that name to Mr Modi since the Gujarat riots," he claimed in an interview with American news organization Bloomberg on Tuesday.
“I believe I was referring to a historical fact, and they believe that repeating history is a personal insult,” the Pakistan FM added.
During a press conference in New York last week, Pakistan's top diplomat apparently tried to blame Modi for the communal riots that took place in Gujarat in 2002 during his tenure as state chief.
A special investigation team (SIT) formed at the order of India's Supreme Court found no evidence of the government's complicity in the unrest. Furthermore, the Supreme Court of India, the country's top judicial body, upheld the SIT findings and a clean chit issued by it to the Gujarat government.
Bilawal's comments were met with massive criticism in India, with the Indian Foreign Ministry blasting them as a "new low, even for Pakistan".
"The Pakistani FM's uncivilized outburst seems to be a result of Pakistan's increasing inability to use terrorists and their proxies," Arindam Bagchi, a spokesman for the Indian Foreign Ministry, said.
Members of Prime Minister Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demonstrated against the objectionable comments by protesting all over India. Some of them even burned Bilawal's effigy outside the Pakistan embassy in Delhi.