Staff Reporter Islamabad
The Foreign Office on Wednesday said that India’s “unwarranted and gratuitous remarks” on an incident of vandalism involving a statue of Sikh ruler Maharaja Ranjit Singh in Lahore were akin to “feigning concern” and “highly hypocritical” given its “state-sponsored discrimination” against its own minorities.
A man was arrested on Tuesday for damaging Singh’s statue located at the Lahore Fort after a video made rounds on social media showing the culprit breaking off the statue’s arm and toppling it off its horse before bystanders stop him from causing further damage.
Following the attack on statue, India’s Ministry of External Affairs, in a statement carried by ANI news agency, said “Pakistani state has completely failed in its duty to prevent such attacks. This is creating a climate of fear for the minority communities to practice their faith.”
The Foreign Office, responded to Indian criticism, saying: “It is highly hypocritical of a country that is purveyor of state-sponsored discrimination against its minorities to pontificate on the issue of minority rights elsewhere.”
