Pakistan strongly condemns demolition of ancient Bilal Mosque in Haryana by Indian authorities

• “Hindutva driven BJP-RSS combines perpetual targeting of Muslims is indelible blot on the so-called largest democracy,” says FO spokesperson. 
• Asim Iftikhar says Pakistan will continue to urge int’l community to hold India accountable for systemic human rights violations of minorities.
• “We call upon India to ensure safety, security and well-being of its minorities, including Muslims,” says the spokesperson.  

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Wednesday strongly condemned the unjust demolition of ancient Bilal Mosque in BJP-ruled Haryana by Indian authorities in consort with pliant judiciary under the BJP-RSS regime.

In a statement, Foreign Office Spokesperson Asim Iftikhar Ahmad said that the Hindutva driven BJP-RSS combines perpetual targeting of Muslims and their places of worship is an indelible blot on the so-called “largest democracy.”

He recalled that the Indian Supreme Court in a controversial judgment in November 2019 allowed the extremist Hindu parties to construct Ram Mandir at the historic site of Babri Masjid, which was demolished by Hindutva goons in 1992.

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

The spokesperson 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, and without any judicial accountability.

“Targeting of Muslims and their religious places and cultural heritage continues unabated in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) and in India,” he added.

Asim Iftikhar said that Pakistan will continue to urge the international community, particularly the United Nations, OIC and relevant human rights organizations 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,” he added.

Muslim bangles seller thrashed mercilessly 

Earlier on August 23, a mob in India’s Madhya Pradesh had mercilessly beaten a Muslim bangles seller after he had apparently used a fake name.

“If a man hides his name, caste, and religion then bitterness comes in,” the state’s Home Minister Narottam Mishra had said in response to the incident, according to a news report.

The minister had said the incident — which had occurred in MP’s Indore on Sunday — should not be given a given “communal colour”.

The mob had also reportedly robbed the man of 10,000 Indian rupees.

“He was using a Hindu name, though he belonged to a different community. He also had two different Aadhaar cards […] he was selling bangles which our daughters wear and apply henna during sawan (monsoon) […] that’s how the altercation started,” the minister had said.