The Foreign Office on Wednesday said that India's “unwarranted and gratuitous remarks” on an incident of vandalism involving a statue of Sikh ruler Maharaja Ranjit Singh in Lahore were akin to "feigning concern" and "highly hypocritical" given its "state-sponsored discrimination" against its own minorities.

A man was arrested on Tuesday for damaging Singh's statue located at the Lahore Fort after a video made rounds on social media showing the culprit breaking off the statue's arm and toppling it off its horse before bystanders stop him from causing further damage.

Following the attack on statue, India's Ministry of External Affairs, in a statement carried by ANI news agency, said “Pakistani state has completely failed in its duty to prevent such attacks. This is creating a climate of fear for the minority communities to practice their faith.”

The Foreign Office, responded to Indian criticism today, saying: “It is highly hypocritical of a country that is purveyor of state-sponsored discrimination against its minorities to pontificate on the issue of minority rights elsewhere."

The FO spokesperson remarked that a mature state would have appreciated the immediate arrest of the accused against whom strict legal action had already been initiated.

“The government, legislature, judiciary, civil society and the media in Pakistan have always worked for ensuring constitutional protections for members of minorities as equal citizens,” he said.

The spokesperson further said that places of worship of minorities in India were targeted with “state complicity” and called upon the neighbouring country to ensure safety, protection and well-being of the minorities, including Muslims.

“Rather than feigning concern for minorities elsewhere, India should seriously introspect, move away from entrenched anti-minority mindset being destructively spawned by the RSS-BJP regime, and discard state-sponsored discriminatory policies,” the statement said.

Pakistan also called upon India to “take effective steps for protection of minorities' worship places, culture and heritage sites.”

Maharaja Ranjit Singh was the ruler of the Sikh empire spread across many parts of Pakistan, with Punjab being the main territory and including parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and even southern parts of the country. His statue was unveiled in the Lahore Fort at the Mai Jindan Haveli, on the emperor's 180th death anniversary by Sikh historian, writer and filmmaker Bobby Singh Bansal.

The recent attack was the third such instance of vandalism since the statue's unveiling in June 2019 to commemorate the ruler's 180th death anniversary.