We are closely monitoring the situation of minorities in Pakistan

External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar provides information

New Delhi – India is closely monitoring the situation of minorities in Pakistan. In February, 10 incidents of persecution of Hindus were recorded in Pakistan. As a government and as a country, we cannot change our neighbour’s radical mindset. Even former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi could not do this. The Pakistani government is not taking action to protect minorities. Since 2014, India has granted long-term visas to 15,019 minorities coming from Pakistan, as stated by India’s External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar in the Lok Sabha. He was responding to a question about crimes and atrocities against minorities in Pakistan during the Question Hour in the Lok Sabha.

Dr. Jaishankar further mentioned that in February, there were 3 incidents related to the Sikh community, 2 incidents related to the Ahmadiyya community, and 1 incident related to the Christian community. We raise these issues at international forums. Our representative at the United Nations Human Rights Council has highlighted that Pakistan is a country where “human rights violations, the persecution of minorities, and a systematic decline in democratic values” are state policies. (The United Nations is ineffective. The issues raised there are ignored, and they end up in the trash bin, with no real impact. It’s time to move beyond this ! – Editor)

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor supports Dr Jaishankar’s statement

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor supported Dr. Jaishankar’s statement and said that the government is concerned about the situation of minorities in Pakistan. He added that there are clear indications that we care about the welfare of minorities in Pakistan; however, the problem is that there is no bilateral dialogue between India and Pakistan. Otherwise, we could have directly expressed our concerns to Pakistan and demanded a solution to the problem. (When Congress was in power in India, they held many discussions with Pakistan. Tharoor should answer why this didn’t yield any results ! – Editor) Dr. Jaishankar’s statement was entirely factual, and we must acknowledge the extremely distressing situation in our neighbouring countries.

Editorial Perspective

Simply keeping track of the situation is not enough; because in Pakistan, the Hindu population, which was around 20% in 1947, has now dwindled to just 1%. If India only keeps track and does nothing, then tomorrow, even these Hindus might vanish. Hindus in Afghanistan have no place, and the same situation is likely to unfold in Bangladesh. India must stop its policy of Gandhism, or else history will not forgive us !