‘World must play role in getting Islamic heritage sites in India preserved’

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has once again called upon the international community, the United Nations and relevant international organisations to play their role in preserving the Islamic heritage sites in India from the extremist ‘Hindutva’ regime and ensure protection of minorities in India.

The issue was raised by the Foreign Office on this day , 28 years ago, when Hindu zealots of the RSS-inspired BJP, backed by the state apparatus, demolished the centuries-old Babri Masjid in Ayodhya in an abominable act of anti-Muslim frenzy and blatant violation of religious and international norms.

The News understands that there has been no going back after this abominable act and minorities including Muslims now have little place to move in the country of their birth. In fact, this week saw Pakistani Hindus who had left to settle in India returning saying today India was not a place to live in.

If this is the state of Hindu citizens, one can imagine the challenges that the minorities face, challenges that India’s independent media reports on daily.

“In line with that spirit, Pakistan once again urges the Indian government to ensure safety, security and protection of minorities, particularly Muslims and their places of worship, and fulfil its responsibilities under Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international instruments including the recommendations of the OIC,” said the Foreign Office.

Pakistan says that the painful scenes of the demolition of Babri Mosque in 1992 still remain fresh in the minds of not only Muslims but all conscionable persons in the world. The new illegitimate structure, which the Hindutva-driven BJP has campaigned for and is bent upon constructing as part of its agenda of converting India into a ‘Hindu Rashtra’, is a scar on the face of so-called largest democracy in the world.

“The flawed judgment of the Indian Supreme Court in the Babri Mosque case in November 2019 not only reflected the preponderance of faith over justice but also the growing majoritarianism in today’s India, where minorities, particularly Muslims, and their places of worship, are increasingly under attack. The recent shameful acquittal of the criminals responsible for demolishing the historic Babri Mosque in 1992 represented another egregious travesty of justice,” pointed out the Foreign Office.

The extreme haste in starting construction of a temple at the Babri Mosque site amidst the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic, anti-Muslim Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), the looming National Register of Citizens (NRC) to disenfranchise Muslims, target killings of Muslims in Delhi with state complicity in February 2020, and other anti-Muslim measures point to the fact how Muslims in India are being systematically demonized, dispossessed, marginalised and subjected to targeted violence.

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has passed numerous resolutions, condemning the odious act of demolishing the historic mosque. Recently, at the 47th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) held at Niamey, the OIC called upon the Indian government to take immediate steps to implement its commitment to reconstruct the Babri Masjid on its original site and to punish those responsible for its demolition, prevent the construction of temple on its site, take immediate steps to ensure the protection of the other 3,000 mosques, and ensure the safety and protection of the Muslims and Islamic holy sites throughout India.