ISLAMABAD, 07 December, 2020, (TON): Pakistan once again urged 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 Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

“Today is a sad reminder of the demolition of the historic Babri Masjid in India. On this day, 28 years ago, Hindu zealots of the RSS-inspired BJP, backed by the state apparatus, demolished the centuries-old mosque in Ayodhya in an abominable act of anti-Muslim frenzy and blatant violation of religious and international norms,” the Foreign Office (FO) said in a statement on Sunday.

“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,” it added.

The statement said that 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, were increasingly under attack.

It said that the recent shameful acquittal of the criminals responsible for demolishing the Babri Mosque in 1992 represented another egregious travesty of justice.

The FO further said, 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, the looming National Register of Citizens to disenfranchise Muslims, the targeted killings of Muslims in Delhi with state complicity in February 2020, and other anti-Muslim measures pointed to the fact how Muslims in India were being systematically demonized, dispossessed, marginalized and subjected to targeted violence.

Pakistan urged India to punish those responsible for the mosque’s demolition,

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

OIC had also passed numerous resolutions, condemning the odious act of demolishing the historic Mosque.

India's Muslims are being systematically targeted. BJP administration has emboldened those carrying out hate crimes against minority religions.