|Foreign Minister questions timing of verdict
By Ajmal Khan Yousafzai
ISLAMABAD: Expressing deep concerns over the judgment of Indian apex court in historic Babri Mosque case, Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesman Dr. Mohammad Faisal on Saturday said that the decision has once again failed to uphold the demands of justice.
In a statement issued by the FO, Dr. Faisal said, “This decision has shredded the veneer of so-called secularism of India by making clear that minorities in India are no longer safe; they have to fear for their beliefs and for their places of worship.”
He said that as the United Nations recently noted the Indian Supreme Court’s response to human rights petitions in the context of Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir was slow and this decision pointed out that when it acted. The spokesperson further said that it was unable to protect the interests of India’s minorities.”
A process of re-writing history was underway in India in order to recast it in the image of a ‘Hindu Rashtra’ in pursuance of the Hindutva ideology, the spokesperson said and added that It was also fast affecting India’s major institutions.
Dr. Faisal said that the rising tide of extremist ideology in India, based on the belief of Hindu supremacy and exclusion, was a threat to regional peace and stability.
He said that the Indian government should ensure the protection of Muslims, their lives, rights and properties and avoid being yet again a silent spectator of Muslims becoming the victims of Hindu extremists and zealots.
The international community, the United Nations and other human rights organizations in particular should play their role by restraining India from its pursuit of an extremist ideology and to ensure equal rights and protection of the minorities in India, the spokesperson added.
Agencies add: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Saturday questioned the timing of the verdict announced by the Indian Supreme Court on the ownership of a centuries-old religious site in Ayodhya.
“Sikhs across the globe are happy over the opening of Kartarpur corridor, while the Indian SC has opened a new debate through its verdict”, Shah Mehmood Qureshi said while talking to ARY News.
The foreign minister added, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was sowing the seeds of hatred with its politics of hatred.
Shah Mehmood Qureshi said Foreign Office will issue an official statement on the matter after reading details of the verdict.
“The Indian Supreme Court after a long time announced the verdict today. Why did the Indian court announce the verdict today?” he asked.
The FM said Pakistan respects minorities living in the country and they are free to go anywhere and worship according to their believes.
Opening of the Kartarpur corridor shows Islamabad’s resolve that all religions are respected in Pakistan, he continued.
Earlier in the day, India’s Supreme Court had ruled the Hindus will get Ayodhya land and an alternate piece of land should be allotted to Muslims to balance the claims of the both communities, according to media reports.
The unanimous verdict on the long-running Ayodhya land dispute announced by a five-member bench of the Indian apex court headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi. The bench also comprised of Justices S. A. Bobde, D. Y. Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S. Abdul Nazeer.
The bench in its decision observed that there was enough material to prove that the Babri Masjid was not constructed on a vacant land. There was a structure there and it was not an Islamic structure, bench said.
The Supreme Court bench declared demolition of Babri Masjid in 1992 as a violation of law. It also said that Sunni Waqf Board has not been able to establish its claim of adverse possession as evidence shows that Hindus were not barred from entering the premises before 1857.
