ISLAMABAD: Pakistan reacted strongly to the highly irresponsible remarks made by the chief minister of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh about taking back Sindhu – the region around the Indus River in Southern Pakistan – and termed the remarks as part of the New Delhi’s revisionist and expansionist mindset.

Responding to the media questions regarding the remarks made by Yogi Adityanath, the Chief Minister of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, Foreign Office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch voiced Pakistan’s strong condemnation of the “highly irresponsible” statement, saying the assertion also reflects a perverse view of history.

“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,” Baloch said.

She added that 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.

“History bears witness that a Hindu supremacist mob had brazenly demolished the historic Babri Mosque on 6 December 1992 to take back the claimed birthplace of Lord Rama in Ayodhya. Clearly, the chief minister’s provocative remarks are inspired by the gratuitous assertion of “Akhand Bharat” (undivided India),” she added.

She said that 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.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023