ISLAMABAD: Pakistani lawmakers on Friday demanded New Delhi apologize for the derogatory remarks against Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) made by two officials of India’s ruling party, which have since drawn outrage from several Muslim countries.
Anger has been growing in Pakistan and other Muslim-majority nations since last week, when two spokespersons for India’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) made insulting comments against Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him).
After the comments triggered a diplomatic fallout with several Muslim states over the weekend, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party suspended one official and expelled the other, saying it denounced insult of religious figures.
On Friday, members of the upper house of Pakistan parliament, the Senate, rallied in protest from the Parliament House to the Indian High Commission building in Islamabad.
“Pakistan’s entire Senate is standing here and demanding that Indian government apologize over this,” Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani said.
The Pakistani foreign office demanded New Delhi hold the two officials to account through “decisive and demonstrable action.”
“The BJP top leadership and the Indian government must clearly condemn the actions of the responsible BJP officials,” foreign office spokesman Asim Iftikhar Ahmad said at a weekly press briefing on Friday.
“Hold them to account through decisive and demonstrable action. That may be a big ask in today’s ‘saffronized’ India, but this is the least that is being expected of them.”
The spokesperson condemned what he said was the rising trend of Islamophobia in India, saying the remarks made by BJP officials were not “isolated incidents” in themselves.
“Regrettably, the Indian state machinery has remained aloof to the desperate calls for assistance by the local Muslim and minority communities across the country including Sikhs, Christians and Dalits,” Ahmad said.
On Monday, Pakistan also issued a demarche to the Indian charge d’affaires over the comments by BJP spokespersons.