‘Hypocritical of India to remark on minorities rights elsewhere’

By News Desk

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Wednesday rejected the “gratuitous remarks” of the Indian External Affairs Ministry regarding an incident involving the statue of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, saying it was “highly hypocritical” of a country which was a “purveyor of state-sponsored discrimination”.

“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 Foreign Office said in a statement.

The Foreign Office said” “A mature state would have appreciated the immediate arrest of the accused against whom strict legal action has already been initiated.”

On Tuesday, a man was arrested for vandalising the statue of Raja Ranjit Singh, and authorities promised strict legal action against him. The incident was roundly condemned in Pakistan. It said the government, legislature, judiciary, civil society and the media in Pakistan always worked for ensuring constitutional protections for members of minorities as equal citizens and their places of worship, whereas in India incidents against minorities was taking place with state complicity.

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