Unmindful of the criticism of the BJP of his declaration to play out a suicide bomber mission to Pakistan, Karnataka minister BZ Zameer Ahmed Khan reiterated his readiness to become a suicide bomber against Pakistan. On Friday, he repeated his offer to “sacrifice himself for the country, if the central government permitted it.

“If the Prime Minister permits, I will go to Pakistan as a suicide bomber…” the minister said, reiterating his statement last week on May 3 that drew criticism from the BJP. Then, talking to media persons, the minister said that “We are Indians, and Hindustanis and have no relation with Pakistan. We are ready to wage a war with Pakistan.”.

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Reacting to his remarks, Union Minister from Karnataka, Pralhad Joshi, said they were childish and advised him to stay silent.

The Karnataka minister ignored the advice and repeated what he said last Friday. Even BJP MP Jagadish Shettar took the minister to task and said that if he was serious, he should go to Pakistan and confront their leadership.

“Let Zameer volunteer to go to Pakistan if he wants. He should go tell the Pakistan Prime Minister that Pakistan is sponsoring terrorism and Hafeez is given security inside Pakistan,” Shettar said. Khan’s statements were made during increased rhetoric over terrorism.

Now, of course, India has retaliated against Pakistan for its role in Pahalgam, and there is tension building up with attacks and counterattacks between the two nations.

Clearly, so far, the Indian Armed Forces’ Operation Sindoor appears to have done significant damage to Pakistan and its fighting abilities if the official word from the defence force briefing is any indication.