Turkey must reconsider support to Pakistan, over 200 million Muslims live in India: Asaduddin Owaisi

New Delhi [India], May 17 (ANI): AIMIM Chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday called on Turkey to reassess its support for Pakistan, highlighting India's historical ties with Ankara and the fact that "over 200 million honourable Muslims," a far larger number than in Pakistan, live in India.
Speaking to ANI, Owaisi also emphasised India's stance against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism and its resolve to present the issue on global platforms as part of a multi-party delegation visiting key partner nations.
"Turkey must reconsider their stance of supporting Pakistan. We must remind Turkey that there is a bank in Turkey called Isbank, whose earlier depositors were people of India. Turkey has many historical connections with India...We must constantly remind Turkey that more than 200 million honourable Muslims live in India...There are more Muslims in India than in Pakistan. The way Pakistan has behaved so far, they have nothing to do with Islam at all...," Owaisi said.
Owaisi also criticised the US announcement of cessation of hostilities, arguing that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should have announced it.
"I have said it before, I will say it again, our Prime Minister should have announced the ceasefire, not the US President. Do you know that Pakistan's trade with the US is worth only 10 billion, whereas for India it is over 150 billion. Is it a joke?"
Slamming the US, Owaisi asked, "can America guarantee that Pakistan will not carry out terror attacks on us anymore?..."
"Pakistan's military will always mess with India. How long will we tolerate this?... How can you trade with Pakistan? They are beggars... We are only expecting this much from the US, that they should designate the TRF (The Resistance Front) as a terrorist organisation...TRF is nothing but a Pakistan-sponsored group of LeT (Lashkar-e-Taiba)..."
Owaisi, named as part of a delegation to project India's fight against cross-border terrorism and highlight Operation Sindoor, stressed the importance of the mission.
"This is not about any party affiliation... We will have a more detailed meeting before leaving... This is an important task. I will try my best to fulfil this responsibility well. As of now, I know that the group I belong to will be headed by my good friend Baijayant Jay Panda. I think this group will include Nishikant Dubey, Phangnon Konyak, Rekha Sharma, Satnam Singh Sandhu, and Ghulam Nabi Azad. The countries I think we'll be going to are the UK, France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, and Denmark," he said.
He further added, "We are representing the government of India and our country... We are going to those countries to tell how our daughters are getting widowed, our children are being orphaned, and how Pakistan wants to destabilise our country. We are the fifth-largest economy. If there is destabilisation in India, it will affect the whole world... Never forget that 21 civilians have also been killed (in cross-border shelling). Four children were killed in Pooch. Five of our jawans were killed. We will present all this to the countries... We will present the Indian government's vision to the best of our capability."
The All-Party Delegations will project India's national consensus and resolute approach to combating terrorism in all forms and manifestations. They would carry forth to the world the country's strong message of zero tolerance against terrorism.
Members of Parliament from different parties, prominent political personalities, and distinguished diplomats will be part of each delegation.
India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7 in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 people were killed. India's precision strikes in Pakistan and PoJK on May 7 killed over 100 terrorists. (ANI)