The Pakistani Foreign Ministry summoned Indian Charge d’Affaires Gaurav Ahluwalia on Tuesday evening to convey Pakistan’s strong rejection of the “baseless and fabricated Indian allegations concerning the Sikh community”.
Islamabad has accused New Delhi of diverting attention from the present state of affairs in Kashmir and the “systematic discrimination against minorities in India”.
“We conveyed Pakistan’s strong denouncement of the Indian government’s motivated and mischievous allegations of ‘attack’, ‘vandalism’ and ‘desecration’ at the holy Gurdwara Nankana Sahib and ‘targeted killing’ of a Pakistani Sikh youth in Peshawar,” the statement issued by the Pakistan Foreign Ministry read.
The Imran Khan government is committed to protecting the rights of minorities, with zero-tolerance against any discrimination, it added.
The Pakistan government has also pointed to repeated instances of “desecration, hate crimes and mob lynchings” in India and urged the Narendra Modi government to make ensure the safety of minorities.
The two countries have been involved in war of words for last few days after a Muslim mob attacked the widely-revered Sikh shrine in Nankana Sahib in Pakistan’s Punjab province on Friday. The attack was related to the police detention of the family of a Muslim who abducted a Sikh woman in August and later married her.
A day later on Sunday, a Sikh youth was killed in broad daylight. However, the man accused of the incident at Nankana Sahib was arrested on Sunday and has been charged under the anti-terrorism act.