FO condemns mosque demolition in India's Uttar Pradesh, terms it part of 'drive to erase Islamic heritage'

FO condemns mosque demolition in India's Uttar Pradesh, terms it part of 'drive to erase Islamic heritage'.

Key points

• News Desk Published September 6, 2026 Updated September 6, 2026 07: 45pm.
• All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen president and Hyderabad lawmaker Asaduddin Owaisi condemned the demolition and questioned whether the constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion applied to Muslims, NDTV documented.
• According to Owaisi, the mosque dated back to 1911, claiming that the Collectorate itself was constructed afterwards.
• He recalled that the demolition of the Babri Mosque in 1992 was an "enduring symbol of this ideology of religious intolerance, prejudice and hatred".
• The Indian Express quoted mosque staff member Tanveer Ahmed as saying that the order was for eviction, not demolition.

News Desk Published September 6, 2026 Updated September 6, 2026 07: 45pm. Join our Whatsapp Channel. Add Dawn as a trusted source.

Pakistan on Sunday condemned the demolition of a century-old mosque in India's Uttar Pradesh, describing it as part of an "Islamophobic and Hindutva-driven campaign to erase the Islamic heritage" in the country.

Responding to media queries regarding the demolition, Foreign Office (FO) spokesperson Sajjad Haider Khan condemned the move and described it as "a reprehensible action against a historic Islamic place of worship".

"Pakistan calls upon the international community to take immediate cognisance of the systematic persecution of Muslims by Indian authorities, " the statement remarked, highlighting the "continued desecration and destruction of their places of worship under state patronage".

Khan pressed accountability of Indian authorities for actions against the religious freedom and cultural heritage of all minorities, particularly Muslims.

According to The Indian Express, the mosque. It was located inside a Collectorate in Saharanpur, was demolished a day earlier.

Notably, the demolition came three days after a district court had dismissed an appeal against an order holding that the structure stood on administration land and was unauthorised. The September 2 order did not itself mention demolition.

For context, the Indian Express quoted mosque staff member Tanveer Ahmed as saying that the order was for eviction, not demolition. He asserted the mosque was around 150 years old, and maintained that the land was recorded in their names.

In 2024, the Akhonji mosque. It was over 600 years old, was razed to the ground without any prior notice in Delhi's Mehrauli district. In 1992, a Hindu mob destroyed the famous Babri mosque, triggering riots that killed regarding 2, 000 residents throughout India, most of them Muslims.

In short, FO condemns mosque demolition in India' s Uttar Pradesh, terms it part of is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.