Pakistan rejects India’s remarks about PM’s tweet on citizenship bill

Pakistan has rejected comments by Indian Ministry of External Affairs’s Spokesperson about a tweet of Prime Minister Imran Khan regarding discriminatory citizenship bill passed by the Indian Parliament this week.

In a statement, Foreign Office spokesperson said many international human rights organizations and neutral observers even from within India have characterized the legislation as discriminatory against Muslims and unconstitutional.

“We reject comments by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs (MEA)’s Spokesperson about a tweet of the Prime Minister of Pakistan regarding discriminatory citizenship bill passed by the Indian Parliament this week. Many international human rights organizations and neutral observers even from within India have characterized the legislation as discriminatory against Muslims and unconstitutional.”

“We reiterate that this Indian legislation is premised on a falsehood, both with regard to the alleged decline in non-Muslim population in Pakistan as well as their alleged persecution in the country.”

Furthermore, objectively speaking, India should be the last countryto pretend being a “protector” of the minorities. The world’s media have widely reported on and condemned the deplorable conditions of the minorities in India, especially since the assumption of office of right-wing BJP in 2014.

The architects of the massacre of thousands of Muslims in Gujarat do not have the moral high-ground to preach about the rights of minorities to India’s neighbouring countries. Today’s India is synonymous with lynchings of members of minority communities including low caste Dalits by mobs, often with state complicity. The persecution of nearly 8 million unarmed and innocent Kashmiri Muslims, incarcerated by 900,000 Indian security forces for over four months, is a living testimony to India being a country with no respect for human rights and minority rights.

We urge the international community to take notice of the violation of minorities’ rights in India, including the Muslims of Jammu and Kashmir under the illegal occupation of India.