‘Not my vision’: Imran on gurdwara attack
ISLAMABAD: PAKISTAN Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday condemned the recent incident of vandalism at the Nankana Sahib, saying that it goes against his “vision” and his government.
Gurdwara Nankana Sahib, also known as Gurdwara Janam Asthan, is a site near Lahore where the first Guru of Sikhs, Guru Nanak, was born. On Friday, a mob in Pakistan surrounded gurdwara and threatened to occupy it, if some people detained in connection with the alleged forcible conversion of a Sikh woman were not released.
In a series of tweets on Sunday, Khan highlighted that the incident was “against his vision and will find zero tolerance and protection from the government including police and judiciary”.
The PM said that the “ongoing attacks across India on Muslims and other minorities” are backed by “Modi’s RSS vision”.
“RSS goons conducting public lynchings, Muslims being violated by mobs are all not only supported by Modi Govt but Indian police leads anti-muslim attacks,” PM Imran added.
The Indian government has repeatedly dismissed any allegation of prejudice and atrocities against minorities in the country.
Pakistan interior minister Brigadier (retd) Ijaz Ahmed Shah, too, visited the gurdwara on Sunday and promised action against the accused. “What happened here on Friday is a conspiracy by those who are against the brotherhood and national sovereignty,” said Shah. “International media projected it wrongly and twisted the facts. PM Imran’s government is standing by the Sikh community and those who were behind this incident will be brought to the book.”
Pakistan, however, maintained that the incident was not communal in nature and the gurdwara was not desecrated. “Attempts to paint this incident as a communal issue are patently motivated... the gurdwara remains untouched and undamaged. All insinuations to the contrary, particularly the claims of acts of ‘desecration and destruction’ and desecration of the holy place, are not only false but also mischievous,” the Pakistan Foreign Office said in a statement.
The Indian government, meanwhile, had expressed concern at the “vandalism carried out at the revered Nankana Sahib Gurdwara” and members of Pakistan’s Sikh minority being “subjected to acts of violence in the holy city of Nankana Sahib”.