Indian Americans Condemn Violence against Muslims across India during the Holy Month of Ramadan
Washington, DC: The Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC), an advocacy group dedicated to safeguarding India’s constitutional values of pluralism and tolerance, April 19 unequivocally condemned the large-scale extremist violence against Muslims across several Indian states during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.
Starting the first week of April, the violence has spread far and wide with targeted street violence against Muslims and their places of worship as well as their homes, stores and businesses especially during the Hindu festivals of Ram Navami on April 10 and Hanuman Jayanti on April 16.
Viral videos that have flooded social media show extremist mobs armed with swords, guns and rods, taking out processions through Muslim areas, blasting Islamophobic songs, chanting Hindu religious slogans, attacking mosques, shrines, Muslim families, homes and their businesses.
Muslim homes, businesses, mosques and shrines were attacked, vandalized and burnt in the BJP ruled Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. In Madhya Pradesh’s Khargone city, the epicenter of violence, the local administration demolished Muslim homes and shops, doubly victimizing them after Hindu extremist mobs had terrorized and targeted them. In Gujarat’s Himmatnagar, the Hindu extremists set fire to a Muslim shrine….
“Every religious group has a right to celebrate their festivals. However, it is shameful and despicable that Hindu extremists in India are using their festivals to terrorize Indian Muslims with physical assaults, vandalism, and arson. It is alarming that these acts of large-scale violence are being committed in the presence of the police,” said Rasheed Ahmed, Executive Director of IAMC.
Ahmed further termed the bulldozing of Muslim houses and shops as “complete injustice” and “grave breach of Indian and international law.”
IAMC urges the international human rights organizations and civil society groups to take note of the deteriorating situation in India, which has a potential to turn into a full-blown Muslim and Christian genocide in the coming months
IAMC also call on the US State Department to ask the Indian government to stop stoking the anti-Muslim sentiment, punish the Hindu extremists involved in the anti-Muslim violence, and accept the recommendation of the United States Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) to designate India as Country of Particular Concern (CPC). - IAMC
