The Foreign Office strongly reacted to a new mural in the Indian parliament depicting ‘Greater India’ as a representation of an expansionist mindset.

At a press briefing in MOFA on Thursday, spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said Pakistan was ‘appalled’ by reports of the mural depicting ‘Akhand Bharat’ and statements by leaders of the Bharatiya Janta Party to the same effect.

Baloch confirmed that Pakistan was aware of reports about the mural which was unveiled at a newly innaugurated building of the Indian parliament and that the mural depicted parts of so-called ancient India inclusing areas that are now in Pakistan and other countries.

“We are appalled by the statements made by some BJP politicians including a Union Minister, linking the mural with ‘Akhand Bharat’ (Unified greater India),” Baloch said.

“The gratuitous assertion of ‘Akhand Bharat’ is a manifestation of a revisionist and expansionist mindset that seeks to subjugate the identity and culture of not only India’s neighboring countries but also its own religious minorities,” she added.

Baloch also said that it was concerning that such an idea was being propagated by members of the ruling class in India.

“The Indian politicians are well advised not to indulge in rhetoric against other countries merely to further their divisive and parochial political agenda,” she said.

The FO spokesperson encouraged Indai to resolve its disputes with neighboring countries for a peaceful region instead o ‘nurturing hegemonic and expansionist ambitions’.

The idea of ‘Greater India’ has long been a slogan for the ruling BJP is which has tried to rally the public in India along the lines of unified Indian identity handed down from the past.