India's Claim about Decline in Population of Hindus in Pakistan 'Incorrect', Says Pak Foreign Office

Islamabad: Pakistan on Wednesday once again rejected the allegations of persecution of its minorities and said India's claim that the population of Hindus in the Muslim-majority country has drastically declined was "incorrect".

"Pakistan categorically rejects, once again, the Indian Government and senior BJP leadership's baseless allegations of persecution of minorities in Pakistan and the factually incorrect claims that population of religious minorities in Pakistan has declined from 23% in 1947 to 3.7% in 2011," the Foreign Office (FO) said in a statement.

It said that India quoted the 1941 Census data but "deliberately and mischievously" omitted references to two major subsequent developments, including mass migration during the partition and separation of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).

"Both these developments had an impact on the percentage of the minority population in Pakistan," it said.

The FO claimed that factually the percentage of minorities in Pakistan (formerly West Pakistan) increased over the past decades, which was borne out conclusively by the available Census data.

According to the first Census in Pakistan in 1951, the total population of minorities in current Pakistan was 3.12%, which increased up to 3.72% by 1998, it said.

The FO said that the 1998 Census data further showed that the Hindu population of Pakistan increased from around 1.5% in 1951 to nearly 2% in 1998.

"Pakistan, therefore, condemns the distortion of facts by the BJP Government and (its) leadership to justify the discriminatory legislation like Citizenship (Amendment) Act," it said.