ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has said India was violating its international human rights obligations by `deliberate incitement` against Muslims in its own territory.

In a statement issued in response to media queries about Islamophobic incidents across India, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson said `targeting of Muslims through hate speech, discriminatory actions, and state complicity` was a `matter of serious concern` for the international community.

`At a time when restraint and reconciliation are most needed, the deliberate incitement of religious hatred for political or ideological purposes violates international human rights obligations and vitiates the prospects for communal harmony, and regional stability,` said the statement released on Saturday.

The Foreign Office called upon the BJP government to uphold the rights and safety of its citizens, regardless of faith.

Earlier this month, the Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR), which is based in New Delhi, reported 184 hate crimes targeted at Muslims all over India between April 27 and May 8.

The attacks were reported at a time when anti-Muslim sentiments in India were high following the attack in Pahalgam in India-held Kashmir on April 22. New Delhi blamed the attack on Pakistan, an allegation denied by Islamabad.

APCR report showed the attacks affected at least 316 individuals, `physically or otherwise`, noting that the actual number was likely higher.

The incidents comprised 84 hate speeches, 64 acts of intimidation, 42 harassment incidents, 39 assaults, 19 acts of vandalism, 14 threats, seven verbal abuses and three murders.

The APCR further said that 106 of the 184 hate crimes were linked to the Pahalgam attack. The highest number of them were recorded in Uttar Pradesh, followed by Bihar, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand and West Bengal.

`The nature of hate crimes indicates a nationally resonant atmosphere of hostility and not local anomalies,` the civil rights groupnoted.

One such incident was the vandalismof Karachi Bakery in India`s Hyderabad by the right-wing workers of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Besides intensifying a crackdown on alleged links to Pakistan, India has also made arrests over critical comments.

Ali Khan Mahmudabad, an associate professor with the Department of Political Science at Ashoka University, was arrested on May 18 in a case related to his comments on the military briefings during the India-Pakistan flare-up.

In a social media post, Prof Mahmudabad noted that while rightwing Indians rejoiced at Col Sofiya Qureshi`s briefings about operation Sindoor, they were insensitive to the lynchings and bulldosing of homes of Muslims in India.

Days later, Mr Mahmudabad was granted bail by India`s top court.

India`s Supreme Court said he should have avoided `use of complicated words` which could `hurt individuals` and instead used `simpler words to convey his sentiments`. The court also directed the formation of a special police team to probe his comments.

Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra called the arrest frivolous.

The scholar was arrested `on Mickey Mouse charges` and jailed `only because of his name,` Ms Moitra said and re-shared Mr Mahumadabad`s post and said that nothing in it `is remotely offensive, let alone seditious`.

In April, India`s parliament passed a billto reformMuslimland-owning organisations, which led to widespread protests.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s government argued the bill will boost transparency to more than a dozen powerful Waqf boards, which control properties gifted by Muslim charitable endowments.

There are around two dozen Waqf boards across India, owning some 900,000 acres (365,00 hectares), a multibillion-dollar property empire that makes them one of the biggest landholders alongside the railways and the defence forces.

Opposition parties slammed the bill, saying the government was pushing `polarising politics` at the expense of India`s Muslim minority of 200 million.

With input from APP