Pakistan has no moral standing to lecture others: MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal

NEW DELHI: India on Wednesday slammed Pakistan over its statements on flag hoisting at Ram Janmabhoomi Temple in Ayodhya, conveying strongly and clearly that Islamabad has no moral standing to lecture others considering that the country holds a deeply stained record of bigotry, repression and systemic mistreatment of its minorities.

Addressing a weekly media briefing on Wednesday, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal stated that Pakistan should instead focus on its own abysmal human rights record.

When asked about Pakistan Foreign Ministry’s statement on flag hoisting at Ram Janmabhoomi Temple in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya, Jaiswal responded, “We have seen the reported remarks and reject them with the contempt they deserve. As a country with a deeply stained record of bigotry, repression, and systemic mistreatment of its minorities, Pakistan has no moral standing to lecture others. Rather than delivering hypocritical homilies, Pakistan would do better to turn its gaze inwards and focus on its own abysmal human rights record.”

India’s reaction came after Pakistan’s Foreign Office on Wednesday condemned the flag hoisting at Ayodhya temple, alleging that the development illustrates a wider pattern of marginalization of religious minorities in India.

Last month at the United Nations, India had launched a scorching salvo against the Pakistani campaign, saying that Islamabad-backed Pahalgam attack is indelibly fresh in the world’s memory and the terrorism sponsor stands exposed before all as “the worst violator of human rights”.

“The international community stands witness to Pakistan’s sponsorship of cross-border terrorism and its use of terrorism as a tool of State policy directed against India,” Raghoo Puri, a First Secretary at India’s UN Mission, said on October 22.

“Terrorism is the gravest threat to humanity, and its abettor and aider like Pakistan remains the worst violator of human rights,” he added. “The brutal, targeted attacks carried out by Pakistan-trained terrorists, which claimed the lives of 26 innocent civilians in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam on April 22, 2025, have not been forgotten by the world,” he said.

Puri was responding to what he characterised as Pakistan “peddling lies and making false equivalences” during an interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on Fundamental Freedoms While Countering Terrorism at the General Assembly’s Third Committee that deals with humanitarian affairs. (IANS)

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