Hyderabad (Telangana) [India], May 10 (ANI): All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Saturday launched a sharp and direct critique of Pakistan's attempts to create religious divisions within India and said that Pakistan's terrorist actions are less about religious solidarity and more about political and strategic gains masked by religious rhetoric.

Speaking to ANI about his views on Pakistan trying to divide Indian society based on religion, he said, 'It is the deep state of Pakistan that only uses Islam as a facade to cover their illegal activities, to cover their promotion of terrorism.'

Owaisi strongly reaffirms that Indian Muslims, including their forefathers, rejected Muhammad Ali Jinnah's Two-Nation Theory (which led to the creation of Pakistan) and chose to live in a secular, democratic India.

He also points out the inconsistency and hypocrisy in Pakistan's use of religion as a political tool and said that while Pakistan claims to champion Muslim causes, it has been violent toward other Muslim communities, such as Afghans, Iranians, and the Balochs.

Asaduddin Owaisi said, 'Pakistan conveniently forgets that more than 230 million Muslims are living in India and our forefathers rejected the 'Two-Nation Theory'. We despise, reject the 'Two-Nation Theory' proposed by Jinnah and accept India as our country, and we will continue to stay here. Pakistan wants to divide India on the lines of religion, it wants to create more friction between Indian Muslims and Hindus and other communities over here.'

Adding further, he said, 'If Pakistan talks about the two-nation theory, why are they bombing the Afghanistan border post, why are they bombing the Iranian border post, why are they killing the Balochis who are also Muslims. The Afghans are Muslims, the Iranians are Muslims, the Balochis are their nationals who are Muslims. It is the deep state of Pakistan that only uses Islam as a facade to cover their illegal activities, to cover their promotion of terrorism. This is what they have been doing for the past 75 years.'

Notably, the 'Two-Nation Theory' argued that Muslims and Hindus in the Indian subcontinent were two distinct nations, with their customs, religion, and traditions, and therefore could not coexist peacefully within a single nation. It claimed that Muslims needed a separate nation to practice Islam and preserve their cultural identity freely.

In the aftermath of Operation Sindoor, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi urged the Indian government to push for the complete dismantling of Pakistan's terror infrastructure, holding the Pakistani deep state, ISI, and military directly responsible for continued cross-border terrorism.

Speaking to ANI, Owaisi said, 'The Pakistani deep state, the Pakistani ISI, the Pakistani military, their aim and objective is always to create problems and destabilise India in any way. They have been sponsoring, promoting, and training terrorists inside their own country. There are various satellite images as well, which can prove this.'

Owaisi accused Pakistan of systematically sponsoring, training, and sheltering terrorists within its borders, citing satellite imagery and intelligence inputs that confirm the presence of terror camps.

'These terrorist camps, organisations, despite them being banned by the US, for eg when India bombed Bhawalpur--a terrorist organisation's headoffice which was a shelter to train people in arms, the terrorists who were killed over there, their last namaz--the janaza namaz, was performed by a person who is a designated terrorist in the US--Hafiz Abdur Rahouf. Why can't the world see this? In that prayer, all the people were wearing Pakistan Army dresses,' stated Owaisi.

He questioned the global silence and asked how long India can tolerate such provocations. 'This needs to end. There must be a full stop to terrorism sponsored by Pakistan.'

'We, India as a country, how long can we allow this and let Pakistan enter our country and kill people? And the most unfortunate was the Pahalgam attack, these terrorists from Pakistan separated families and then asked the males to recite the Kalma, and if not, they were shot dead. Can anyone imagine the pains, the scars these families will carry for the rest of their lives? So it is high time that this terrorism sponsored by Pakistan should come to an end, there should be a full stop to it,' said the AIMIM chief.

Meanwhile, India has decided that any future act of terror will be considered an 'act of war' against India and will be responded to accordingly, the top government sources said.

Earlier in the day, amid the escalating tensions between India and Pakistan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting with Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), and chiefs of the Indian Armed Forces at his residence in New Delhi.

The meeting took place following India's strikes at four airbases in Pakistan in the early hours of Saturday in reply to Pakistan's attack on 26 Indian locations.

Indian Army Colonel Sofiya Qureshi stated that precision strikes were carried out on Pakistani military targets in Rafiqui, Murid, Chaklala, Rahim Yar Khan, Sukkur, and Chunian, as well as radar sites at Pasrur and Sialkot aviation bases, using air-launched weapons from Indian fighter aircraft.

Earlier today, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, Colonel Sophia Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh briefed the media about the ongoing developments amidst the rising tensions between India and Pakistan.

Vikram Misri emphasised that the actions being undertaken by Pakistan against India are being seen as 'escalatory' and 'provocative' in nature. He made the remarks during a press briefing on Saturday, where proofs of Pakistan's escalatory and provocative actions were provided alongside exposing the lies being peddled by Pakistan.

While speaking to the media, the Foreign Secretary said, 'Pakistan's actions constituted provocation, escalation. In response, India defended and reacted in a responsible and measured fashion.' (ANI)