Pakistan voices concern over rise in Islamophobic incidents in India
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan expresses grave concern over a rise in Islamophobic incidents across India, the Pakistani foreign office said on Saturday, following reports of attacks against Muslims.
The reports of increasing attacks against Muslims and Kashmiris in India emerged after an April 22 attack on Hindu tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir's Pahalgam town that killed 26 people.
New Delhi blamed the assault on Pakistan, a charge denied by Islamabad. The attack triggered a four-day standoff between the neighbors this month that killed 70 people on both sides before a truce was announced on May 10.
At least 184 anti-Muslim hate incidents, including murders, assaults, threats and vandalism, have been recorded countrywide in India, Indian media outlets quoted New Delhi-based Association for Protection of Civil Rights as saying this month.
'Pakistan calls upon the Government of India to uphold the rights and safety of all its citizens, regardless of faith,' Pakistani foreign office spokesman Shafqat Ali Khan said, adding that such incidents violate international human rights obligations and vitiate the prospects for communal harmony and regional stability.
Bitter rivals India and Pakistan have fought three wars, including two over the disputed region of Kashmir, since gaining independence from British rule in 1947. Both claim the Himalayan territory in its entirety but rule it in part.
While a conflict between the neighbors feeding minority hatred on either side is not a new phenomenon, critics and rights bodies say Hindu right-wing groups have become emboldened in recent years due to a 'culture of impunity.'
'Prime Minister [Narendra] Modi likes to boast of India's democratic traditions, but it's become increasingly hard for him to hide his government's deepening crackdown on minorities and critics,' Meenakshi Ganguly, the deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in January this year.
'A decade of discriminatory policies and repression has weakened the rule of law and has restricted the economic and social rights of marginalized communities.'
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