Pakistani Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif has called the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi an "elected terrorist" amid the ongoing tensions between the South Asian neighbours.

The Pakistani lawmaker said that the Indian PM had got "blood of Muslims on his hands" referring to the 2002 riots in the Indian state of Gujarat. Modi was the then chief minister of the state.

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"[Indian Foreign Minister] Sushma Swaraj has accused us (Pakistan) of exporting terrorism. [However] one terrorist [in India] is the country's prime minister himself. He [Modi] has the blood of Muslims murdered in Gujarat on his hands," Asif said while speaking to Pakistan's Geo News.

He added that India is being "ruled by a terrorist party – the RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh]," referring to the ideological parent of Modi's ruling party, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The senior Pakistani minister also alleged that Dalits (formerly untouchables) and Muslims are being targeted in India under the disguise of protecting cows. He said: "What can be said about the country that elects a terrorist as prime minister."

India and Pakistan, both nuclear-armed rivals, have been engaged in a bitter verbal spat in recent weeks. They both have used the UN General Assembly to underscore the simmering tensions between them and accusing each other of peddling terrorism in the region.

While New Delhi labelled Pakistan as "terroristan", Islamabad hit back saying India is the "mother of terrorism in South Asia".

Narendra Modi Red Fort on Independence Day
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi gestures as he addresses the nation from the historic Red Fort during Independence Day celebrations in Delhi Adnan Abidi/Reuters