Pakistan, Sept. 7 -- Pakistan's Foreign Office has rightly condemned the demolition of a mosque in Saharanpur, describing it as part of an "Islamophobic and Hindutva-driven campaign to erase the Islamic heritage" of India. By Sunday, Muslim organisations inside India were openly questioning the "extraordinary haste" with which the operation was carried out, opposition politicians were demanding answers, and the mosque management was preparing to approach the Allahabad High Court. Uttar Pradesh's administration had been quicker than all of them: bulldozers arrived early Saturday, barely three days after a district court dismissed the committee's appeal.

The official case is straightforward enough. The mosque occupied 315 square metres ins...