The Foreign Office (FO) on Tuesday issued a statement condemning a flag raising at the Ram Temple in India’s Ayodhya — built on the site of the demolished Babri Masjid — and warned of a threat to religious minorities and Muslim cultural heritage by Hindu extremists.

Devout Hindus believe that Ram was born in Ayodhya around 7,000 years ago, but that during the rule of the Mughal Empire, the Babri Masjid mosque was built on top of his birthplace in the 16th century. Thousands of Hindu activists, led by politicians of the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), demolished the mosque in 1992. The Ram Temple was built at the site of the destroyed mosque and was inaugurated last January.

The FO condemned the flag hoisting at the site and stated that judicial processes allowing the construction of the temple over the mosque “speak volumes about the Indian state’s discriminatory approach towards minorities”.

“This reflected a broader pattern of pressure on religious minorities in India and deliberate attempts at eroding Muslim cultural and religious heritage under the influence of majoritarian Hindutva ideology,” the statement added.

The FO warned that other historic mosques in India face similar threats of desecration or demolition, while Indian Muslims continue to experience growing social, economic and political marginalisation under the majoritarian BJP.

It called on the international community to acknowledge rising Islamophobia, hate speech, and hate crimes in India and urged the United Nations to play a role in safeguarding Islamic heritage and minorities’ religious and cultural rights.

Pakistan also urged the BJP government to “uphold its responsibilities by ensuring the security of all religious communities, including Muslims, and by protecting their places of worship in accordance with international human rights obligations”.