"Incumbent on Pakistan to treat all citizens equally without looking at their religion," Former diplomat Fabian on Zardari's remarks

New Delhi [India], August 16 (ANI): In yet another blow to the dwindling numbers of minorities in Pakistan, former diplomat K P Fabian has slammed the purported remarks made in this context by Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, urging Islamabad to provide equal opportunities to all of its citizens.

Fabian's remarks come after media reports emerged that Zardari, in his speech at an Independence Day event in Islamabad on August 14, claimed that the country had a mindset that "tolerates" and claimed that the minority Hindu population of Pakistan, which he said forms 4 per cent of the country, would "rather be with us (Pakistan) than with them (India)".

Pakistan has had a track record of sustained attacks on the freedoms of minority communities in the country.

Zardari's statement comes in stark contrast to the data published by the Pew Research Centre, which, in a report published in 2025 based on data collected from 2010-2020, noted that Hindus form a meagre 2.1 per cent of the population.

Former diplomat Fabian told ANI, "Pakistan was formed on the basis of religion. World history is the World Court of Judgment which in 1971 pronounced its judgment. You cannot have a state based on religion. East Bengal got separated..."

He underlined in his remarks that Zardari having to talk about the issue reflects the gravitas on how minorities are suffering in Pakistan.

He slammed Pakistan for its religious bias in treating citizens and said, "It was incumbent on the government of Pakistan to treat all its citizens equally without looking at their religion, which they have not done. And for the president himself to say that shows how bad the situation is."

In a report in 2025, the UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner had flagged the widespread impunity for violence and discrimination against minorities in Pakistan.

The UN human rights experts had urged the Pakistani government to take measures against the extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests, and attacks against places of worship and cemeteries. (ANI)

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