India has rebuffed Pakistan for its comment on the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, stating Islamabad has no locus standi on the issue

“ We have seen an absurd statement by Pakistan on a matter on which it has no locus standi. Given its record, Pakistan should be embarrassed to even mention minorities. After all, numbers don’t lie even if they do,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Anurag Srivastava said in response to media queries on Thursday.

On Wednesday, Pakistan’s Foreign Office maintained that while the world is grappling with the unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic the RSS-BJP combine was advancing the Hindutva agenda. It said the commencement of construction of a mandir at the site of Babri Masjid in Ayodhya on May 26 is another step in this direction and the government and people of Pakistan condemn it in the strongest terms.

In 2019, the Supreme Court, in a landmark verdict in the Babri Masjid-Ram Janmabhoomi title case, paved the way for construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya.

“As for the judiciary, Pakistan must realize that theirs is thankfully not the norm. There are others elsewhere with credibility and integrity that Pakistan understandably finds difficult to recognize,” Anurag Srivastava said.

He also said “India is a nation served by the rule of law and which guarantees equal rights to all faiths. Pakistan’s Foreign Office may take time out and read their own constitution to realize the difference."