Pakistan on Sunday condemned the demolition of a historic mosque in Saharanpur, India’s Uttar Pradesh, describing the move as a “reprehensible action” against an Islamic place of worship.
Responding to media queries, Foreign Office spokesperson Sajjad Haider Khan said the demolition reflected religious intolerance and prejudice, recalling the destruction of the Babri Mosque in 1992 as a lasting symbol of such an ideology.
According to The Indian Express, the mosque, located within the Saharanpur Collectorate, was demolished a day earlier. The action came three days after a district court dismissed an appeal against a ruling that declared the structure unauthorised and found it to be situated on government land.
The September 2 court order did not specifically direct the demolition of the mosque. Mosque staff member Tanveer Ahmed told The Indian Express that the order concerned eviction rather than demolition. He claimed the mosque was around 150 years old and that the land on which it stood was registered in their names.
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president and Hyderabad lawmaker Asaduddin Owaisi also condemned the demolition and questioned whether India’s constitutional guarantee of religious freedom applied equally to Muslims, according to Indian media reports.
Owaisi claimed the mosque dated back to 1911 and argued that the Collectorate itself was built at a later date.
The latest incident comes amid concerns over the demolition of Muslim places of worship in India. In 2024, the more than 600-year-old Akhonji Mosque in Delhi’s Mehrauli area was demolished without prior notice. In 1992, the Babri Mosque was destroyed by a Hindu mob, triggering widespread communal violence that left around 2,000 people dead, most of them Muslims.
The Foreign Office urged the international community to take immediate notice of what it described as the systematic persecution of Muslims by Indian authorities.
It also highlighted what it called the “continued desecration and destruction” of Muslim places of worship under state patronage.
Sajjad Haider Khan called for accountability of Indian authorities over actions affecting religious freedom and the cultural heritage of minorities, particularly Muslims.
