FM Qureshi questions timing of Babri Mosque verdict

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Saturday questioned the ruling by the Indian Supreme Court on the ownership of a centuries-old religious site in Ayodhya.

“The verdict by the Indian Supreme Court will put more pressure on already suppressed Muslim community,” Qureshi said while speaking to Geo News.

“Pakistan Foreign Office will issue an official statement on the matter after reading details of the verdict,” Qureshi said.

He further questioned why the verdict was announced today of all days.

“The Indian Supreme Court after a long time announced the verdict today. Why did the Indian court announce the verdict today?” he asked.

Read also: Indian Supreme Court gives Babri Mosque land to Hindus

The minister said the decision which coincided with the inauguration of the Kartarpur Corridor will exert more pressure on already suppressed community.

The foreign minister added, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party was sowing the seeds of hatred with its politics of hatred.

The Indian Supreme Court on Saturday ruled in favour of Hindus in a long-running legal battle over a centuries-old religious site claimed by Muslims, in a ruling that paves the way for the construction of a Hindu temple at the site.

The top court also directed that an alternate land parcel be provided to a Muslim group.

The dispute centres around who should control the land upon which lie the ruins of the 16th-century Babri Mosque, destroyed by a Hindu mob in 1992.

Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari also questioned the timing of the verdict.

In a post on Twitter, the minister said the decision by the Indian court regarding the Babri Mosque land dispute on the same day as the opening of the Kartarpur Corridor could not be starker.

“The contrast between the Indian SC's verdict on Babri Mosque strengthening the Hindutva creed and Pakistan's opening of the Kartarpur Corridor - both on the same day - could not be more stark!,” Mazari tweeted. 

Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry also called the decision illegal and immoral.