Vikrant Shekhawat : Jan 22, 2021, 12:32 PM
New Delhi: India has highlighted the "irony" as Pakistan co-sponsored a resolution at the United Nations on safeguarding religious sites pointing out to recent demolishment of a Hindu temple in the country.India in its statement on Adoption of Resolution on "Promoting a culture of peace and tolerance to safeguard religious sites" said,"The resolution can not be a smokescreen for countries like Pakistan to hide behind.".Adding, "It is a matter of great irony that the country where the most recent attack and demolition of a Hindu temple took place in a series of such attacks" and "where the rights of minorities are being emasculated is one of the co-sponsors of the resolution under the agenda item “Culture of Peace”December 2020 saw the demolition of a historic Hindu temple Karak in the country's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The temple has been the target of attack in the past as well. It was demolished in 1997 and later reconstructed again in 2015. The statement elaborated, "Pakistan with explicit support and connivance with the law enforcement agencies which stood as mute spectators while the historic temple was being razed.".It is not for the first time India had spoken about Pakistan's track record on the deteriorating situation of minorities. In fact, New Delhi has taken up several times the abduction of Hindu, Sikh, Christian girls in the country by summoning Pakistani diplomats.India statement saw a reiteration of "application of the principles of objectivity, non-selectivity and impartiality" to form the basis of discussions in the United Nations especially on the issue of religion and the top body "should not take sides and as long as such selectivity exists, the world can never truly foster a culture of peace." Pakistan has several times raised Islamophobia at the UN but maintained a deafening silence when it comes to discrimination faced by Hindus, and others, particularly on its own soil.