Pakistan on Monday condemned the highly irresponsible remarks made by Indian state Uttar Pradesh’s Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath about taking back “Sindhu” -the region around the Indus River in southern Pakistan- saying that the provocative remarks were inspired by the gratuitous assertion of “Akhand Bharat”.
According to India Times, Adityanath stated on Sunday that if the Shri Ram Janmabhoomi temple (the site of Babri mosque) can be reclaimed after 500 years, there is no reason why the Sindhu province cannot be taken back.
“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.
She 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 Lord Rama in Ayodhya.
She said that 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 that 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,” she further said.