India tilting in wrong direction: Pakistani daily

Islamabad, Oct 21: India may not yet be on a knife-edge but it is tilting in the wrong direction, said a leading Pakistani daily which observed that Shiv Sena activists are "indulging in vandalism and Pakistan-bashing". An editorial in the influential daily Dawn said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena are both allies and competitors: joined together in government at the centre and in Maharashtra, but were competing for the vote bank. "As the junior partner to the BJP and thought to be drifting to the margins in terms of relevance and popularity, the Shiv Sena now appears to be keen to grab the headlines in the only way it knows - letting loose its activists and indulging in vandalism and Pakistan-bashing," it said. Thrice now in a week, Shiv Sena activists have tried to bully and intimidate - and even assaulted in the case of Sudheendra Kulkarni, the host of the Mumbai leg of former Pakistan foreign minister Khurshid Kasuri’s book tour - public figures and officials seen as friendly to Pakistan or working towards normalisation of ties between the latter country and India. On Monday, it was the Pakistan Cricket Board leadership’s turn to be harassed in the city as Shiv Sena activists raided the BCCI headquarters ahead of a meeting to discuss a cricket series. Only after the personal intervention of the Maharashtra Chief Minister, the BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis, and the provision of extra security was there some respite.