External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday said India is closely monitoring atrocities against the Hindus and other minorities in Pakistan and also raising the issue at the international level.
Responding to a question on ”crime and atrocities against minorities in Pakistan” in the Lok Sabha, he referred to 10 cases of atrocities on the minorities which were committed in Pakistan in February. These included seven cases related to abduction and forcible conversion.
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“I sympathise with the sentiments expressed by the honorable member. There are two parts to the question. One, whether we follow what are the crimes and atrocities against the minorities in Pakistan. And secondly, what are we doing about it internationally? So, the first part of it is yes, sir, we follow very closely, we track very closely the treatment of minorities in Pakistan.
“And as an example, I would like to apprise the House that just in February, there were 10 cases of atrocities against the Hindu community, seven of them related to abduction and forcible conversion, two related to abduction, one related to police action against students who were celebrating Holi,” the minister said.
He said that there were three incidents related to the Sikh community in Pakistan and two cases about the Ahmadiyya community. He stated that a Christian person, who reportedly was mentally unstable, was charged with blasphemy in Pakistan.
Mr Jaishankar said, “There were three incidents relating to the Sikh community in Pakistan. In one case, a Sikh family was attacked. In another case, a Sikh family was threatened because of the reopening of an old gurdwara. There was also an abduction and conversion issue with one girl from that community. There were two cases pertaining to the Ahmadiyya community.
“In one case, a mosque was sealed and in another case, 40 graves were desegregated and there was one case about the Christian community, where a Christian person who reportedly was mentally unstable was charged with blasphemy.”
He said that India takes up the issues at the international level and cited the remarks of India’s representative at the UN Human Rights Council and India’s Ambassador in the UN General Assembly.
”We track (incidents in Pakistan) very, very closely. We take it up, and we take it up at the international level also. Again, to give two recent examples, Sir, in the month of February, our representative at the UN Human Rights Council pointed out that Pakistan is a country where I quote him, where human rights, abuses, persecution of minorities and systematic erosion of democratic values are state policies, they constitute state policies which brazenly harbors UN sanctioned terrorists and Pakistan is in no position to lecture anyone.
“Instead, Pakistan should focus on providing actual governance and justice to its own people. Our ambassador in the UN General Assembly also just two weeks ago underlined the fanatical mindset of Pakistan, which he said was very well known and its record of bigotry. So, we are taking it up at the international level,” Jaishankar said.
