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New York: In a blow to purveyors of fake news trying to create a diplomatic rift between the US and India, the White House has denied that Pakistan’s military chief, Asim Munir, was invited to the Washington Military Parade on Saturday.

“This is false. No foreign military leaders were invited,” a White House official said of the reports about the invitation to Munir.

Critics of India and the opposition parties in India seized on the fake reports to criticise Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government and tried to sow discord between India and the US.

Parade

The parade on Saturday is billed as one of the largest military shows in the US, an attempt to showcase its defence capabilities and boost US President Donald Trump’s image.

The parade commemorates the formal founding of the US Army on June 14, 1775, to fight the British colonialists, a year before the US attained Independence.

The date coincides with the 79th birthday of Trump, who will take the salute.

Thousands of troops, dozens of tanks and other military hardware, in addition to helicopters and parachutists, are scheduled to participate in the parade on Saturday afternoon, which will also feature flyovers.

This will be a unique spectacle because the US does not have a tradition of military parades like India’s Republic Day or France’s Bastille Day parades.

Last time Washington witnessed military show in 1991

The last time Washington witnessed a military show was in 1991 when the National Victory Celebration was held after the US defeated Iraq in the First Gulf War to liberate Kuwait, which was also known as Operation Desert Storm.

The fake news of the invitation to the Pakistan military chief became fodder for the opposition parties in India and pundits elsewhere opining on diplomacy.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, among others, claimed it was a huge setback for Indian diplomacy.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena-UBT in an editorial in its newspaper ‘Saamana’ asserted India suffered diplomatically and it was a “deliberate attempt to weaken India’s fight”.

It accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of being blind supporters of Trump and not sufficiently outraged at the claimed invitation to Asim Munir.

The exposure of the fake news was also a blow to Pakistan, which tried to make it seem a one-upmanship on India after its delegation led by former Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari failed to meet any senior US officials above the rank of an UnderSecretary.