India Has Highlighted Persecution Of Minorities In Pakistan At International Level Including UN, Govt Tells Parliament

The government informed Rajya Sabha on Thursday (11 February) that India has raised the issue of violence against minorities in neighbouring countries including Pakistan at both bilateral and international forums, reports Hindustan Times.

Replying to a question from MP Kirodi Lal Meena, minister of state for external affairs V Muraleedharan said that reports of violence and harassment of members of minority communities in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan are a matter of concern to the government.

“Upon occurrence of incidents of sporadic violence against minorities and their places of worship in Afghanistan and Bangladesh, these issues are raised formally as well as informally with the respective interlocutors,” he said

“In Pakistan, incidents of killing, persecution, intimidation, abduction, forced conversions, desecration and vandalisation of places of worship of minorities and attacks on their business establishments are regularly reported in the media. The issue of the continued mistreatment of minority communities in Pakistan is highlighted by India through bilateral diplomatic channels and at international fora, including at the United Nations,” the minister said regarding persecution of religious minorities in Pakistan.

Also, in January, the representatives of the national umbrella bodies for Hindus in the United Kingdom have written a letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, asking him to set up a governmental enquiry into the persecution of minority Hindus and Christians in Pakistan.

The letter comes in the aftermath of the destruction of a Hindu temple in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa region of Pakistan on 30 December 2020 by a mob of thousands of fanatics led by Muslim clerics.