Pakistan condemns ‘unjust demolition’ of ancient mosque in India's Haryana

Published August 24, 2021
The Foreign Office urged the international community to "hold India accountable for systemic and blatant human rights violations of minorities, particularly Muslims". — AFP/File
The Foreign Office urged the international community to "hold India accountable for systemic and blatant human rights violations of minorities, particularly Muslims". — AFP/File

Pakistan on Tuesday condemned the "unjust demolition" of an ancient mosque in India's Haryana state, terming it another attack on the human rights of India's Muslim minority.

The Foreign Office statement came after Indian authorities, according to reports, demolished the large Bilal Mosque in Faridabad, Haryana, which is ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

“Pakistan strongly condemns the unjust demolition of ancient Bilal Mosque in BJP-ruled Haryana by Indian authorities in consort with pliant judiciary under BJP-RSS regime," FO spokesperson Asim Iftikhar Ahmad said.

The statement called the "Hindutva-driven BJP-RSS combine's perpetual targeting of Muslims and their places of worship" an "indelible blot on the so-called 'largest democracy'".

It recalled that the Indian Supreme Court in a controversial judgement in November 2019 had allowed the "extremist Hindu parties" to construct Ram Mandir at the site of the historic Babri Masjid, which was demolished by Hindu extremists in 1992.

Read: From the rubble of Ayodhya

"The Indian judiciary was also culpable in acquitting the criminals who had organised the destruction of the Babri Masjid in public glare," it added.

The FO further said that Muslims and their places of worship were attacked "with state complicity" during anti-Muslim pogroms in Gujarat in 2002 and in Delhi in February 2020, without there being any judicial accountability.

The targeting of Muslims and their religious sites and cultural heritage "continues unabated" in Indian-occupied Kashmir and in India, it added.

The FO urged the international community, United Nations, OIC and relevant human rights organisations to "hold India accountable for systemic and blatant human rights violations of minorities, particularly Muslims".

"We call upon India to ensure safety, security and well-being of its minorities, including Muslims and their places of worship and cultural sites," it said.

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