Mani Shankar Aiyar Calls Pakistanis "Biggest Asset Of India", Sparks Row

"Pakistanis, from my experience, have been the people who perhaps overreact to the other side," said Mani Shankar Aiyar

No stranger to controversy, veteran Congress leader and former Union Minister, Mani Shankar Aiyar on Sunday triggered a fresh row after coming out in praise of Pakistanis and terming them as the "biggest asset of India", Dawn reported.

According to the Pakistan daily, Mr Aiyar, while addressing an event in Lahore, said, "Pakistanis, from my experience, have been the people who perhaps overreact to the other side. If we are friendly, they are over-friendly, and if we are hostile, they get overly hostile."

Speaking at the session titled 'Hijr Ki Rakh, Visaal Kay Phool, Indo-Pak affairs', on the second day of the Faiz Festival at Alhamra in Lahore, the former Union Minister shared his affection for Pakistan and its people, saying he had never been to a country where he had been welcomed with such open arms as he was in Pakistan.