'Look at their own record': India hits back at Iran Supreme Leader's 'suffering of Muslims' remark

NEW DELHI: India on Monday reacted strongly to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's remark on the situation of minorities in the country. In a controversial tweet, he named India among the places Muslims are "suffering" and called for solidarity among the community around the world. Indian government termed his remark "misinformed" and said the countries making such remarks should "look at their own record".
On the occasion of Prophet Mohammed’s birth anniversary, Khamenei wrote on X, "The enemies of Islam have always tried to make us indifferent with regard to our shared identity as an Islamic Ummah. We cannot consider ourselves to be Muslims if we are oblivious to the suffering that a Muslim is enduring in Myanmar, Gaza, India, or any other place."
Talking about Iran, he said, "Ill-wishers have been fueling religious differences in the Islamic world for a long time now, especially in Iran."

Within hours of this tweet, the Indian government reacted strongly to the statement calling it "unacceptable".
"We strongly deplore the comments made regarding minorities in India by the Supreme Leader of Iran. These are misinformed and unacceptable," the ministry of external affair ministry said in a statement.
"Countries commenting on minorities are advised to look at their own record before making any observations about others," the ministry said.

In a separate post, the Iranian leader also raised the issue of the “oppressed people of Gaza and Palestine”. He said that achieving the “important goal of upholding the Islamic Ummah’s honor can only be realized through unity”.

Earlier in August 2019, Khamenei had also commented on India’s decision to scrap the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and expressed concern about the situation of Muslims.
“We’re concerned about Muslims’ situation in #Kashmir. We have good relations with India, but we expect the Indian government to adopt a just policy towards the noble people of Kashmir and prevent the oppression & bullying of Muslims in this region,” he had said in his post.