The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) on Wednesday summoned Indian Charge d’ Affaires in Islamabad, Suresh Kumar over the ongoing controversy over the hijab in India’s southern state of Karnataka.

According to a statement issued by MoFA, the government of Pakistan expressed major concern and “deeply" condemned the reprehensible act of banning Muslim students from wearing hijab (headscarves) to colleges in the Indian state of Karnataka.”

“The Charge d’ Affaires was urged to convey to the Government of India, Pakistan’s extreme concern over the anti-hijab campaign, being spearheaded by RSS-BJP combine in Karnataka, which is part of its larger exclusionist and majoritarian agenda aimed at dehumanising and demonising Muslim women,” said the statement.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi also took to Twitter to condemn the “ghettoization of Muslims” in India.

Pakistan also conveyed deep concern over religious intolerance, negative stereotyping, stigmatisation, and discrimination against Muslims that continue unabated in India. The statement revealed that the government of Pakistan told the Indian diplomat that the deafening silence of the BJP leadership over discrimination against Muslims is highly alarming.

The purpose of the meeting was to emphasise that India’s government must “fulfill its responsibility to hold the perpetrators of harassment against women in Karnataka to account and take adequate measures to ensure safety, security and well-being of Muslim women.”

India’s southern state of Karnataka has been marred by a hijab controversy since last month. It began when six Muslim girls were stopped at the gate of Kundapur Pre-University College in Udupi district and were denied entrance on to the college grounds because they were wearing hijab. The issue has spread throughout the state with protests taking place in many different schools and colleges.

As Muslim women began protesting for their right to wear hijab in class, groups of Hindu students wearing saffron scarves have also taken to the streets in retaliation.

The MoFA statement said that, “Pakistan also calls upon the international community, including the United Nations and OIC, especially their human rights machinery, to take cognizance of the worrying level of Islamophobia in India and prevail upon Indian authorities to prevent systematic human rights violations against minorities in the country.”