India on Monday strongly rejected remarks by Pakistan’s ministry of foreign affairs on incidents involving minorities in India, saying comments from a country with a “horrific and systemic” record of persecuting minorities lacked credibility.
Responding to media queries, Official Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs Randhir Jaiswal said Pakistan’s own treatment of minorities of various faiths was a “well-established fact” that could not be obscured by what he described as finger-pointing.
“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,” Jaiswal said.
The MEA response came after Pakistan’s foreign office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi, in a statement issued in Islamabad on Monday, expressed concern over what he termed the “persecution of minorities in India”.
In his remarks, Andrabi referred to incidents of vandalism during Christmas and alleged “state-sponsored campaigns” targeting Muslims, including the demolition of homes and instances of lynching. He also called upon the international community to take note of what he described as violations of the rights of vulnerable communities in India.
India has consistently dismissed such statements from Pakistan, maintaining that they are aimed at diverting attention from Islamabad’s own domestic record and misuse of minority rights narratives at international forums.