By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office on Tuesday condemned the raising of a religious Hindu flag at the newly built Ram Temple in Ayodhya, India, a site long contested as the birthplace of the Hindu deity Ram and the former location of the demolished Babri Masjid mosque, and accused India’s government of fostering discrimination against religious minorities.
The statement, issued amid ongoing tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbors, highlighted what officials described as a pattern of threats to Muslim cultural heritage by Hindu extremists. It warned that the flag hoisting symbolised broader efforts to erode Islamic sites under the influence of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, which has championed Hindu nationalist policies.
Devout Hindus believe that Ram was born in Ayodhya around 7,000 years ago, but that during the rule of the Mughal Empire, the Babri Masjid mosque was built on top of his birthplace in the 16th century. Thousands of Hindu activists, led by politicians of the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), demolished the mosque in 1992. The Ram Temple was built at the site of the destroyed mosque and was inaugurated last January.
The Foreign Office’s condemnation focused on the judicial decisions that paved the way for the temple’s construction, asserting that they revealed deep-seated bias. “This reflected a broader pattern of pressure on religious minorities in India and deliberate attempts at eroding Muslim cultural and religious heritage under the influence of majoritarian Hindutva ideology,” the statement said.
Officials in Islamabad pointed to the flag-raising ceremony as emblematic of escalating risks to other historic mosques across India, which they said faced similar threats of desecration or demolition. At the same time, the statement noted that Indian Muslims were enduring growing social, economic and political marginalisation under the BJP’s majoritarian rule.
The statement comes against a backdrop of strained relations between India and Pakistan, which have fought multiple wars since their partition in 1947 and continue to clash over issues like Kashmir. Pakistan’s call for international intervention underscored its frustration with what it views as unchecked Hindu nationalism in India.
The Foreign Office urged the international community to recognise the surge in Islamophobia, hate speech and hate crimes in India. It specifically called on the United Nations to take action in protecting Islamic heritage and the religious and cultural rights of minorities.
Pakistan also pressed the BJP government to fulfill its duties under international law. “Pakistan urged the BJP government to uphold its responsibilities by ensuring the security of all religious communities, including Muslims, and by protecting their places of worship in accordance with international human rights obligations,” the statement added.
The Ram Temple’s inauguration last year drew massive crowds and was hailed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a milestone in reclaiming Hindu pride, though it reignited debates over secularism in the world’s largest democracy.
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