Desist from Interfering: MEA on Pakistan’s Criticism of Ram Temple

Pakistan’s Foreign Office had said that construction of Ram Temple in Ayodhya reflected “growing majoritarianism”.

Pakistan should “desist from interfering in India’s affairs”, India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) reportedly said on Thursday, 6 August, in response to Pakistan’s criticism of the construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.

According to ANI, MEA also said that Pakistan should refrain from “communal incitement.”

“We have seen the press statement by the Islamic Republic of Pakistan on a matter internal to India. It should desist from interfering in India’s affairs and refrain from communal incitement.”

Ministry of External Affairs   

MEA spokesperson Anurag Srivastava, according to a Hindustan Times report further added, “While this is not a surprising stance from a nation that practices cross-border terrorism and denies its own minorities their religious rights, such comments are nevertheless deeply regrettable.”

Pakistan’s Statement

Pakistan’s Foreign Office had put out a statement, on Wednesday, alleging that the construction of the temple reflected “the preponderance of faith over justice” and “growing majoritarianism”, according to Hindustan Times.

“The flawed judgment of the Indian Supreme Court paving the way for construction of the temple 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, are increasingly under attack.”

Pakistan’s Foreign Office, according to Hindustan Times

Pakistan’s Foreign Office, also, reportedly condemned the haste in starting the temple construction amid the COVID-19 pandemic; controversy over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Register of Citizens; measures that “demonised, dispossessed, marginalised and subjected” Muslims to targeted violence; as well as alleged “systematic human rights violations” in J&K and a “design to change the demography” of the region.

A Similiar Exchange

Following the release of Pakistan’s new “political map”, the MEA had put out a statement, on Tuesday, referring to it as “an exercise in political absurdity laying untenable claims to territories in the Indian State of Gujarat and our Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and of Ladakh.”

Further the MEA had said:

“These ridiculous assertions have neither legal validity nor international credibility. In fact, this new effort only confirms reality of Pakistan’s obsession with territorial aggrandisement supported by cross-border terrorism.”

(With inputs from ANI and Hindustan Times.)