India on Thursday slammed Pakistan for a statement a day earlier in which Islamabad had condemned the commencement of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.
“We have seen an absurd statement by Pakistan on a matter on which it has no locus standi.
Given its record, Pakistan should be embarrassed to even mention minorities. After all, numbers don’t lie even if they do,” Indian foreign ministry spokesman Anurag Srivastava said alluding to statistics that suggest that in 1947, at the time of Pakistan’s creation as a separate state, minorities — Hindus, Sikhs and Christians besides others— formed about 21 % of the population while now, the corresponding number was said to be about 3-4%.
The comments follow Pakistan on Wednesday stating that the Indian government was unabashedly it’s “Hindutva agenda.” In its statement, Islamabad also questioned the verdict given by India’s Supreme Court on 9 November last year that paved the way for the construction of the temple.
In response, Srivastava in his hard hitting statement said: “As for the judiciary, Pakistan must realize that theirs is thankfully not the norm. There are others elsewhere with credibility and integrity that Pakistan understandably finds difficult to recognise.”
“India is a nation served by the rule of law and which guarantees equal rights to all faiths. Pakistan’s Foreign Office may take the time out and read their own constitution to realize the difference,” Srivastava said.
