Hindu religious sentiments targeted: Pakistani Muslim senator threatens to built another Babri Masjid in Ayodhya following Pahalgam terror attack
Islamabad, Islamabad Capital Territory, Pakistan 
28 April, 2025
Case Summary
In a horrific act of terror in the Baisaran Valley of Pahalgam, Anantnag district, Jammu and Kashmir, Islamic terrorists systematically identified and targeted Hindu tourists. The terrorists demanded names and religious identities, inspected identity cards, coerced tourists to recite the Kalma (the Islamic declaration of faith), and even forcibly pulled down their trousers to check for circumcision, all in order to single out Hindus. Once identified, the Hindus were shot at point-blank range. The attack, carried out by Islamic terrorists of The Resistance Force, a proxy of the Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), took the lives of 24 Hindus and left 16 others critically injured. Following the incident, tensions between India and Pakistan deepened. Pakistani lawmakers heightened their demands for a forceful response from the Shehbaz Sharif government to any potential “Indian misadventure.” Amidst these tensions, Senator Palwasha Mohammad Zai Khan made a provocative statement, declaring that the day was near when the Pakistan Army would lay the first brick of a new Babri mosque in Ayodhya, with Pakistani Army Chief Asim Munir giving the inaugural Azaan, an Islamic call to prayer. Responding to increasing calls within India for the Modi government to launch a military response over the Pahalgam attack, Palwasha further said that India “must realise there is a vast difference between cinematic fantasies and the realities of the battlefield.”
Why it is Hate Crime ?
This case is categorised under the primary category- Hate Speech against Hindus. Under that, the relevant sub-category is- Anti-Hindu slurs, mocking faith. Anti-Hindu slurs and the deliberate mocking of the Hindu faith owing to religious animosity involve the usage of derogatory terms, stereotypes, or offensive references to religious practices, symbols, or figures. One of the common anti-Hindu slurs used against Hindus is “cow-worshipper” and “cow piss drinker”. The intention of using this term is to demean and mock Hindus as a group and their religious beliefs since Hindus consider the cow holy. Additionally, some symbols and the slurs attached to them have a historical context that exacerbates the insult, hate, stereotyping, dehumanisation and oppression against Hindus. Cow worship has been used for centuries to denigrate Hindus, insult their faith and oppress Hindus specifically as a religious group. There has been overwhelming documentation about how cow slaughter has been used to persecute Hindus with cow meat being thrown in temples and places of worship. There has also been overwhelming documentation where cow meat (beef) has been force-fed to Hindus to either forcefully convert them to Islam or denigrate their faith. Apart from cow worship, the Swastika – which holds deep religious significance for the Hindus – has also been misinterpreted and distorted to use as a slur against Hindus. Similarly, the worship of the Shivling has been used by supremacist ideologies and religions to denigrate Hindus owing to religious animosity. Such slurs and denigration stem out of inherent animosity and hate towards Hindus and their faith, therefore, it is categorised as hate speech targeted at Hindus specifically owing to their religious identity. This incident is an instance of anti-Hindu speech by the Pakistani Muslim Senator. Firstly, she singles out Ayodhya, the sacred city revered in Hinduism as the birthplace (Janmabhoomi) of Lord Ram. For Hindus, Ayodhya holds profound spiritual significance and symbolises centuries of devotion and sacrifice, making any attack on its sanctity an act of religious animosity. Secondly, the accused threatens that the Babri Masjid will be rebuilt in Ayodhya, with Pakistani Army Chief Asim Munir delivering the first Azaan. This statement stands as a deliberate provocation, directly referring to one of the most sensitive and painful chapters in Hindu history. The Babri Masjid–Ram Janmabhoomi dispute has long scarred the Hindu psyche. The original Ram Janmabhoomi temple, dedicated to Lord Ram’s birthplace, had been destroyed under the orders of Babur, the Mughal tyrant, and the Babri mosque was built on top of the desecrated temple. After decades of legal battles and a relentless struggle, Hindus eventually won the Supreme Court of India’s verdict, which gave them the right to rebuild their temple at the Ram Janmabhoomi site. The reconstruction of the temple represented, for Hindus, not only justice but also the revival of their cultural and religious dignity. Against this historical backdrop, the Pakistani Senator’s remarks about rebuilding the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya amounts to an intentional attack on Hindu identity, reopening historical wounds and seeking to desecrate the sanctity of their most revered temple. Such rhetoric is designed to humiliate Hindus, undermine the legitimacy of their religious rights, and reassert Islamic dominance through verbal and symbolic aggression. Statements of this nature reflect not only religious animosity but also a deliberate attempt to reignite old traumas and normalise hostility towards Hindu places of worship. This incident, therefore, meets the parameters of religiously motivated hate speech and is accordingly being added to the hate crime database.
Case Status
Unknown
Perpetrators Details
Perpetrators
Muslim Extremists
Perpetrators Range
One Person
Perpetrators Gender
female
Sources 
