Protest against Islamophobia
LEADERS of India’s ruling party, the BJP have insulted the image of Rehmat-ul-Alameen (PBUH), the beloved figure of India’s 250 million Muslims and 25 per cent of the world’s population.
As a result of this insolence the sentiments of Muslims have naturally been hurt locally and globally, manifested in the form of peaceful protests across India and around the world.
Instead of adopting a tolerant attitude towards the expression of Muslims opposed to provocations of BJP leaders, violence against Muslims has erupted by the sectarian and narrow-minded majority population of India.
A campaign has been launched in India to demolish the houses of Muslim leaders participating in protests against insulting remarks with bulldozers.
India’s oppression is not going to stop protests and boycotts, the Islamic world will have to respond very strongly to stop it.
It is very unfortunate that India has resorted to bullying as a result of global indifference and criminal silence, which has not only affected Indian Muslims but the entire region as well.
Instead of taking action against the accursed woman for making a blasphemous statement, the Indian government is stone crashing the mountains of oppression on Muslims, charging them with sticks and shelling, demolishing their houses.
On the other hand, India has also shown its terror in occupied Kashmir and the series continues, protests are being held all over the world against the atrocities of India and a boycott campaign of Indian products is being carried out in Muslim countries.
There is no doubt that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Nupur Sharma had no idea that if Indian Muslims raised their voices against his insolence, its echo would reach the Arab world and a diplomatic storm would break out whereas this is the first time that the Arab countries have summoned Indian diplomats and expressed their displeasure to them.
This has been followed by a series of protests by the OIC and GCC, accompanied by other Islamic countries.
The joint reaction of the Islamic countries to this incident came before the world while the hypocrisy of India has also shown to all that it does not care about the religion and beliefs of their people, this Indian claim is wrong at all that it respects all religions equally.
It is a fact that today extremism in India has reached such a stage that the massacre of the Muslim minority is being publicly announced but the government does not feel the need to bring the culprits to justice, even this time, the Islamic countries had not reacted strongly and Narendra Modi’s image on the world stage had not been tarnished so, it would have been presumed that no action would have been taken against the arrogant Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal but the Modi government suspended its female spokesperson from the party when Islamic countries summoned Indian ambassadors to protest and removed Indian goods from its supermarkets.
However, suspending her from the party in response to the outside world is not a major punishment.
Instead of cracking down on the cursed woman for making blasphemous statements, the Indian government is breaking down mountains of oppression on Muslims.
In fact, India has not been safe not only for Muslims but for other minorities as well.
The whole Muslim Ummah will have to unite to break the way India is flouting this resolution after the passage of the resolution against Islamophobia in India.
We must intensify our efforts to protect religious freedoms and unite against Indian bullying and put pressure on world leaders and representative international bodies to take practical steps, otherwise, the situation of the victimized Indian Muslims will become more painful and it is necessary for the Muslim Ummah to stand by the side of the Indian Muslims with all its might so leaving them alone at that time would be a great abuse.
—The writer is a regular columnist, based in Lahore.
