Pakistan slams construction of temple on Babri Masjid site

Ag AFP

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Wednesday reiterated its strong condemnation of the construction of “Ram Mandir” on the site where historic Babri Masjid stood for around five centuries, as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid foundation for the temple.

“The flawed judgment of the Indian Supreme Court paving the way for construction of the temple not only reflected the preponderance of faith over justice but also the growing majoritarianism in today’s India, where minorities, particularly Muslims and their places of worship, are increasingly under attack,” said a statement issued from the Foreign Office.

It said the move will “remain a blot on the face of the so-called Indian democracy for the times to come”. It added that “the new illegitimate structure which the Hindutva-driven BJP has campaigned for, and is bent upon constructing as part of its agenda of converting India into a ‘Hindu Rashtra’”. “Today’s event in Ayodhya reflected an unrelenting drive in this direction.”

Meanwhile, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi took centre stage on Wednesday at a ceremony laying the foundations for a temple at a flashpoint site exactly a year after imposing direct rule on Indian-occupied Kashmir. The city of Ayodhya in northern India has long been a religious tinderbox, providing the spark for some of its worst sectarian violence. In 1992, a Hindu mob destroyed the centuries-old Babri mosque there that they believed had been built on the birthplace of Ram, an important deity. This triggered religious riots that killed 2,000 people, most of them Muslims.

A lengthy legal battle ensued, but in November — in a major victory for Modi’s BJP party — India’s top court awarded the site to Hindus, allowing a temple “touching the sky” to be built.

Wednesday’s elaborate religious ceremony was shown live on television and was reportedly set to be beamed in Times Square in New York. Small celebrations also took place across India.

A masked Modi, 69, shared the stage with the head of the RSS, the militaristic hardline Hindu group that is parent to the BJP and which Modi joined as a young man. “Not only mankind, but the entire universe, all the birds and animals, are enthralled by this golden moment,” chanted the main priest.