ISLAMABAD: Pakistan today (Saturday) categorically rejected ‘unwarranted assertions’ by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) regarding the burning down of a Hindu temple in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Karak district earlier this week.
“This is not the first time the Indian Government has tried to feign concern for minority rights elsewhere while being the most egregious and persistent violator of minority rights itself,” FO spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said in a statement.
The statement came after India conveyed ‘serious concerns’ to the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi at “repeated instances of similar nature against members of the minority community.”
India also asked for the investigation report of the incident to be shared with the Ministry of External Affairs and reiterated the message that the government of Pakistan is “expected to look after the safety, security and well-being of its minority communities”.
In this regard, Pakistan’s Foreign Office said, “From discriminatory Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) to National Register of Citizens (NRC); from the Gujarat massacre of 2002 to the Delhi pogrom of 2020; from the reprehensible demolition of Babri Mosque in 1992 to the despicable acquittal of all the accused by Indian court in 2020; the RSS-BJP regime’s record is replete with instances of gross and systemic violations of the rights of minorities, in particular Muslims.”
“India is in no position to pontificate on the issue of minority rights elsewhere as a perennial purveyor of state-sponsored discrimination against its minorities,” the statement added.
He further said, “The clear difference between India and Pakistan in respect of minority rights can be gauged from the fact that the accused in the Karak incident were immediately arrested, the highest level of judiciary took immediate notice, and senior political leadership condemned the incident.”
“Whereas, in India, the blatant acts of discrimination against Muslims and other minorities take place with state complicity. The Indian leadership is yet to condemn the perpetrators of the Delhi massacre in February 2020,” it maintained.
“Given these incontrovertible facts, the Indian Government would be well advised to set its own house in order rather than feigning concern for minority rights elsewhere,” it concluded.
