Echoing Turkey and China, the Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Bin Mohamad indirectly accused India of invading and occupying Jammu and Kashmir and asked India and Pakistani to “resolve the problem by peaceful means”.
"Now, despite the UN resolution on Jammu and Kashmir, the country has been invaded and occupied."
"There may be reasons for this action but it is still wrong. The problem must be solved by peaceful means. India should work with Pakistan to resolve this problem. Ignoring the UN would lead to other forms of disregard for the UN and the Rule of Law," said the Malaysian prime minister.
Mohamad also tweeted that ignoring the UN is tantamount to disregard for the organisation and the rule of law.
There may be reasons for this action but it is still wrong. The problem must be solved by peaceful means. India should work with Pakistan to resolve this problem. Ignoring the UN would lead to other forms of disregard for the UN and the Rule of Law. pic.twitter.com/QOQtIkPTC1
— Dr Mahathir Mohamad (@chedetofficial) September 28, 2019
The statement from the Malaysian Prime Minister drew a sharp response from several people in India, who tweeted calls for a “boycott Malaysia” campaign.
"Jammu & Kashmir is invaded and occupied by India," said Malaysian PM @chedetofficial at #UNGA
— NATIONALISM (@RPJaiswal8) September 29, 2019
600311 (+8.6%) Indian Tourists visited Malaysia in 2018 & spent RM 2.7 billion.
Let's boycott Malaysia & pick some other SouthEast Asian Country for Tour & Travel.#BoycottMalaysia pic.twitter.com/VEJOA9fUhu
Several social media activists are demanding action against the country including placing a trade embargo, leading to #BoycottMalaysia trending on twitter with 12.4k mentions.
Malaysia !! Time to take Palm Oil tariffs up & imports to ZERO ! https://t.co/1Jsmt0z0TV
— Navroop Singh (@NavroopSingh_) September 28, 2019
Dear @narendramodi , you need to choose between Turkey and Malaysia and make an example of it - it should be a direct, hard economics driven move - not some 20th-century style subtle diplomatic murmur of disapproval https://t.co/fxE06XTjJy
— Opinion Bakery (@IndiaSpeaksPR) September 28, 2019
So it's #Turkey, #Malaysia & #China . Looks like #kualalumpur is going to lose billions of dollars in Palm Oil exports to Indonesia soon. https://t.co/WG1M1WC73s
— Ninjamonkey (@Aryanwarlord) September 28, 2019
Hitting out on the Malaysian Prime Minister, several others called on India to ban tourism to the country.
Asked all my friends, relatives and knowns visit anywhere in the world but #BoycottMalaysia . Kashmir is India & no-one have a right to interfere in this. https://t.co/NGytsLbeZx
— Pradeep Goyal (@GoyalPradeepCA) September 30, 2019
Simply #BoycottMalaysia. If it isn’t urgent, don’t travel there. Avoid trade. With this bigoted and uninformed man heading it, it is a hostile State. https://t.co/W6ikikobDT
— Abhijit Majumder (@abhijitmajumder) September 29, 2019
Indians account for one of he highest tourist nationals visiting this Fundamentalist Islamic Nation. Next time u choose travel East, do not go to this country. Don't give them business, boycott them in every possible way #BoycottMalaysia #Malaysia #boycott
— sheetaladapa (@sheetalAnil) September 29, 2019
India's opposition Congress Party leader Abishek Manu Sanghvi slammed the Malaysian Prime Minister. Sanghvi said his remarks showed his “love for jihad”, which even surpassed Pakistan. He asked the federal government to take strong diplomatic action against Malaysia
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Malaysian Mahathir Mohamad in Russia to discuss the extradition of controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik to India to face trial for fuelling extremism.