Written by: Express News Service
2 min readNew DelhiMay 18, 2012 12:34 AM IST
First published on: May 18, 2012 at 12:34 AM IST
External Affairs Minister S M Krishna told the Rajya Sabha on Thursday that India has taken up with Pakistan the issue of persecution of Hindus there,asked them to discharge the constitutional obligation of protecting minority community,and hoped that they will see the path of reason. He will also raise the issue with the Pakistan leadership when he travels there in the near future.
While replying to a debate on the normalisation of relations with Pakistan and issues relating to human rights violations of minorities in Pakistan,Krishna said that India has always endeavoured to have good neighbourly relations with Pakistan.
We have consistently conveyed peace and progress…. It is imperative for Pakistan to fulfil its solemn commitment of not allowing forces and terrorists… against India, he said.
Krishna noted that it has come to the governments notice that some forces,which are hostile are going scot-free to carry hatred towards India. We have conveyed to Pakistan. This will not help in bettering relations, he said,adding that India and Pakistan will soon sign revised bilateral visas during the Home Secretary-level talks to be held later this month.
The salient feature of this will be increase in number of cities where the citizens of the two countries can visit,revision in senior citizen and child visas… introduction of group visa.
Earlier,during the short discussion initiated by the BJP,RS members expressed concern over the plight of Hindus in Pakistan and asked the government to grant citizenship to those who want to come back.
BJPs Balbir Punj cited instances of large-scale atrocities against the Hindus and the damage caused to their places of worship.
Punj alleged that Hindus were being discriminated against and young girls from the community kidnapped and converted into Islam forcefully.
Even the Pakistan National Human Rights Commission has brought this issue to light, he said.
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