MEA summons Pak Charge d’affairs over killing of Sikh man, Nankana incident

The Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement that India shared with Shah “strong concerns raised by members of civil society, parliamentarians and others at the continued persecution of religious and ethnic minorities in Pakistan, including the recent despicable and heinous acts”. It said Pakistani government was “called upon to ensure safety, security, and welfare of the members of the minority communities in Pakistan, including their places of worship, and take immediate measures to expeditiously bring the perpetrators of such despicable and heinous acts to justice”.

This is the third such statement issued by India within a week.

Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement on Monday to reject the “Indian propaganda about treatment of minorities in Pakistan”. The statement said the “BJP government’s mischievous portrayal of isolated law and order incidents in Peshawar and Nankana Sahib as alleged ‘persecution’ of minorities is part of its smear campaign against Pakistan” and that it is a “desperate attempt to divert attention from the ongoing state terrorism” in Jammu and Kashmir and “systematic discrimination against minorities in India”.

It said it “completely rejects these fabrications, which will in no way shield the BJP government from opprobrium by the international community on its illegal actions” in Jammu and Kashmir and “the adverse fallout of the discriminatory Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and National Register of Citizens (NRC)”.