Pakistan condemns Indian CM's 'highly irresponsible' remarks on reclaiming Sindh
Pakistan
Pakistan condemns Indian CM’s ‘highly irresponsible’ remarks on reclaiming Sindh
ISLAMABAD (APP) - Pakistan on Monday condemned the “highly irresponsible” remarks made by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath about taking back ‘Sindhu’ (the Sindh province) in southern Pakistan, saying that the provocative remarks were inspired by the gratuitous assertion of ‘Akhand Bharat’.
“We condemn the highly irresponsible remarks made by the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, a key member of India’s ruling dispensation and a follower of the bigoted Hindutva ideology, at the National Sindhi Convention in Lucknow. It is equally condemnable that the so-called reclamation of the ‘Ram Janmabhoomi’ has been cited by the Chief Minister as a template for reclaiming the region that constitutes part of Pakistan,” Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said in a statement.
UP Chief Minister Adityanath on Sunday said if the land where a Ram temple was being built in Ayodhya could be “reclaimed”, India could also take back the Sindh province, which is now in Pakistan.
Baloch said that history bore witness that a Hindu supremacist mob had brazenly demolished the historic Babri Mosque on December 6, 1992, to take back the claimed birthplace of Hindu lord Rama in Ayodhya.
She said clearly the chief minister’s provocative remarks were inspired by the gratuitous assertion of ‘Akhand Bharat’ (undivided India).
“These remarks manifest a revisionist and expansionist mindset that seeks to subjugate the identity and culture of not only India’s neighbouring countries but also its own religious minorities. They also reflect a perverse view of history,” the spokesperson remarked.
She said it was a matter of grave concern that such ideas were being increasingly peddled by individuals belonging to the BJP-RSS combine to further their divisive and parochial political agenda.
“Instead of nurturing hegemonic and expansionist ambitions, the Indian leaders should resolve disputes with neighbouring countries, and work with them to build a peaceful and prosperous South Asia.
Adityanath, a 49-year-old monk from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has been criticised in the past by opposition figures and the Muslim minority for a Hindu-first agenda that has inflamed communal tensions. His state of Uttar Pradesh is home to 200 million people including a sizeable Muslim population.
