Pak minister downplays Nankana Sahib attack, says 'conflict tends to arise when you live together'

Pakistan's Interior Minister Brigadier (retired) Ijaz Ahmad Shah on Sunday downplayed the mob attack at the revered Gurdwara Nankana Sahib saying that 'conflict tends to arise' when different communities stay together.

Responding over the incident, the minister said that Nankana Sahib is an example for the world and the rest of the country in terms of minorities living and co-existing in peace and camaraderie, The Dawn reported.

"However, when you live together, the conflict also tends to arise," he said.

Shah expressed disappointment over the fact that the Nankana Sahib attack was "exaggerated" in local and international media.

"The Kartarpur corridor has bridged the distance between Muslims and the Sikh community. This has been hard to digest for a select few, internationally and locally," he said.

An angry group of local residents had pelted stones at Gurdwara Nankana Sahib in Pakistan on Friday evening. The group was led by the family of a boy who had abducted a Sikh girl, Jagjit Kaur, from her home in August last year.

In a statement issued late on Friday, Pakistan's Foreign Office had clarified that the incident in Nankana Sahib was the result of an "altercation between two Muslim groups" and that it should not be portrayed as a communal issue.

"The provincial authorities in the Punjab have informed that there was (a) scuffle in the city of Nankana Sahib between two Muslim groups. The altercation happened on a minor incident at a tea stall," the foreign ministry said, adding that the district administration "immediately intervened" and arrested the accused, who are now in custody.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, earlier in the day, condemned the vandalism at the holy Sikh shrine, saying that the attack is against 'his vision' and that the perpetrators would not find any protection from the government or police.

Intransigent despite criticism, Khan raked up his rhetorics on the state of minorities in India, saying that there is a "major difference" between the "condemnable Nankana incident and the ongoing attack across India on Muslims and other minorities.