NEW DELHI (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th August, 2020) New Delhi has called on Islamabad to refrain from interfering in India's internal affairs after Pakistan condemned the construction of a Hindu temple at the site where a mosque used to stand, Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Anurag Srivastava said on Thursday.
The condemnation comes after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this week laid the foundation stone for the Ram temple at the site of the 16th-century Babri Masjid in the northern city of Ayodhya.
"We have seen the press statement by the Islamic Republic of Pakistan on a matter internal to India. It should desist from interfering in India's affairs and refrain from communal incitement. While this is not a surprising stance from a nation that practices cross border terrorism and denies its own minorities their religious rights, such comments are nevertheless deeply regrettable," the spokesman said.
The medieval mosque was demolished in 1992 by Hindu mobs, as they believed that it was built on the ruins of a temple for Lord Ram, a major deity of Hinduism.
The ownership of the land, where the temple is set to be built, has been the center of a dispute between the two religious communities for decades. According to Hindus, the mosque was built on the ruins of a temple for Lord Ram, a major deity of Hinduism. They further claim that the shrine was destroyed by Muslim conquerors and replaced with a mosque dedicated to Babur, the founder of the Mughal Empire, in the 16th century.
In 1992, the medieval mosque was destroyed by thousands of Indians from right-wing organizations who broke into the Babri Mosque. This attack triggered riots all over the country, which claimed more than 2,000 lives.
Last November, the Indian Supreme Court handed the site to Hindus for the construction of a temple, while Muslims got another plot of land in the city to build a mosque.
