The MEA responded to the reported remarks by Pakistani foreign ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi on Monday. The Ministry of External Affairs on Monday rejected the reported remarks made by the spokesperson of Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs over alleged minority attacks in India and said that no amount of “finger pointing” will obfuscate Pakistan’s “horrific and systemic victimisation of minorities of various faiths”.
“We reject the reported remarks from a country whose abysmal record on this front speaks for itself. Pakistan’s horrific and systemic victimisation of minorities of various faiths is a well established fact. No amount of finger pointing will obfuscate it,” said the external affairs ministry. The MEA’s response comes after Pakistani foreign ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi reportedly described some incidents in India as “targeting religious minorities” and urged the international community to take note of them.
While responding to media queries, Andrabi “described the persecution of minorities in India as a matter of serious concern”, the report said. “He highlighted incidents of Christmas vandalism and state-backed campaigns targeting Muslims, including demolitions of homes and repeated lynching cases, citing the high-profile case of Muhammad Akhlaq, where authorities allegedly shielded the perpetrators from accountability,” it added.
When pre-Christmas vandalism rocked parts of India
Several reports of pre-Christmas vandalism emerged from different parts of India ahead of the festival, including in states such as Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Assam, among others. In Chhattisgarh’s Raipur, a mall was reportedly vandalised by an unidentified group on December 24th during a day-long shutdown, ‘Chhattisgarh bandh’, over alleged religious conversions.
A similar incident happened in Assam’s Nalbari on the same day as some members of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal reportedly vandalised decorative items used for Christmas celebrations at a school and damaged festive articles in shops, following which, four people were arrested. Such incidents sparked reactions from the Opposition, with Congress MP Shashi Tharoor saying Christmas was marked by “fear and anxiety” for Christians, and party leader Ashok Gehlot calling such incidents “worrying and condemnable”.
