Pakistan on Sunday strongly condemned the heavy-handed treatment by the Indian authorities of Muslims who were registering a peaceful protest after Friday prayers over the derogatory remarks of the two members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) against Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement issued in Islamabad said, “The indiscriminate and widespread use of brute force by the Indian authorities across various states in India has resulted in the killing of two innocent Muslim protesters and critically injured thirteen others in Ranchi city.”
It is worth mentioning that in Jharkand’s Ranchi, Indian police shot dead two protesters when they opened fire at the demonstrators protesting against a BJP official’s blasphemous comment about Prophet Mohammed (PBUH).
According to media reports more than 130 protestors were arrested as country-wide protests broke out in India following a BJP spokesperson’s blasphemous remarks.
Terming the footage of Indian forces unabashedly opening fire on unarmed protesters in Ranchi city as “horrific”, the Foreign Office mentioned that in Uttar Pradesh alone a total of 227 people have been arrested so far. “This is a new low in the Indian government’s repressive ‘Hindutva’ inspired majoritarian policy aimed at demonising and persecuting minorities, especially Muslims,” the ministry said.
The Foreign Office reiterated that Pakistan denounces this shameful treatment of Indian Muslim citizens by the Indian government and expresses its solidarity with the Muslims of India in these testing times.
