Babri Mosque verdict failed to uphold demands of justice: FO

ISLAMABAD (92 News) – Expressing deep concern over the decision of the Indian Supreme Court regarding the historic Babri Masjid, Foreign Office Spokesperson Dr Muhammad Faisal said that the verdict had, once again, failed to uphold the demands of justice. In a statement on Saturday, he said that as the United Nations recently noted that Indian Supreme Court’s response to human rights petitions in the context of Indian Occupied Jammu & Kashmir was slow, this decision points out that when it acts, it is unable to protect the interests of India’s minorities. “This decision has shredded the veneer of so-called secularism of India by making clear that minorities in India are no longer safe; they have to fear for their beliefs and for their places of worship. A process of re-writing history is underway in India in order to recast it in the image of a ‘Hindu Rashtra’ in pursuance of the Hindutva ideology. It is also fast affecting India’s major institutions,” he said Dr Muhammad Faisal said that the rising tide of extremist ideology in India, based on the belief of Hindu supremacy and exclusion, is a threat to regional peace and stability. “The Indian government should ensure the protection of Muslims, their lives, rights and properties and avoid being yet again a silent spectator of Muslims becoming the victims of Hindu extremists and zealots.” He said that the international community, the United Nations and other human rights organizations in particular should play their role by restraining India from its pursuit of an extremist ideology and to ensure equal rights and protection of the minorities in India. On Saturday, Indian Supreme Court had ruled in favor of a Hindu group in a centuries-old dispute with Muslims over Babari Mosque in northern India that has been a lightning rod for tension between the two communities. The court said the disputed land be handed over to Hindu extremists to build a temple while Muslims will be provided a separate parcel of land. A lawyer for a Muslim group said the decision was disappointing and the group was likely to file a review petition. In 1992, a Hindu mob destroyed the 16th-century Babri Mosque at the site in the northern town of Ayodhya, triggering riots in which nearly 2,000 people were killed.