ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Sunday strongly condemned the reported shutting down of Darul Uloom Khadija tul Kubra, an educational institute in the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK).

In a statement, Foreign Office spokesperson Asim Iftikhar said that the Indian occupation forces gate-crashed Darul Uloom on Friday, insulted and maltreated the female students and forcefully evicted them before sealing the educational institution.

This illegal act is a fresh reflection of how the Indian occupation forces are trampling on and making a mockery of the fundamental rights of Kashmiri girls seeking education, he said, adding that it also points towards growing Islamophobia, a phenomenon which is on the surge not only in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IIOJK) but also in India.

“Denying Muslim girls access to education, may that be in IIOJK or in Karnataka, is a new low under a far-right Hindutva-inspired regime in India,” he said.

Deafening silence of the BJP leadership and absence of discernible action against ‘Hindutva’ proponents must send alarm bells across the international community about the gross and systematic human rights violations being perpetrated by India, he added.

“Pakistan calls on the international community to take cognizance of the BJP-RSS’s agenda to socially and politically disempower Kashmiris in IIOJK, especially Muslim youth,” he stated.

Pakistan also called upon the international community, including the United Nations and OIC, especially their human rights machinery, to take immediate notice of the worrying level of Islamophobia in India and prevail upon Indian authorities to prevent systematic human rights violations against minorities particularly Muslims in the country.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022