Intolerance toward Muslims and other minority groups is on the rise in Narendra Modi-led India and in occupied Jammu and Kashmir with Hindu groups using violence, intimidation, and harassment against the minorities on daily basis in the country and Indian troops waging a war against civilian population in IIOJK.
A report released by KMS said that when International Day of Tolerance is being observed across the world today, Modi’s India is becoming more openly and violently intolerant towards religious minorities. It said that the Kashmiri people are subjected to the worst kind of state terrorism for demanding their inalienable right to self-determination, adding hate crimes against Muslims and other minorities has alarmingly increased since Modi became India’s prime minister in 2014.
Pertinently, the day aims to highlight the importance of inclusion, peaceful co-existence and respect for different religious beliefs, values and cultures.
The report said that contrary to what the day aims for, Hindu terrorists under the patronage of Modi government threat and kill Muslims and other minorities and vandalize their places of worship with sheer impunity, adding they are being persecuted physically, psychologically and economically.
The report said that extremist Hindus have been emboldened by BJP-led Hindutva government’s support to unleash terror on members of minorities. It maintained that Muslims, Christians and low-caste Hindus are treated as second class citizens in the so-called largest democracy.
The report pointed out that Muslims and other minorities are living in a state of fear in India as Modi is busy shaping India’s policy according to Hindutva dictates.
The right-wing Hindus, the report stressed, have become a threat to Muslims which is manifested in the killing of hundreds of Muslims on charges of eating/slaughtering beef, opposing the veil Muslim girl students, banning the sale of halal meat, removing the Islamic names of cities, villages & streets and placing Hindu names instead. It further said that anti-Christian vigilantes are sweeping through villages, storming churches, burning Christian literature, attacking schools and assaulting worshipers. The very act of worship has become dangerous despite constitutional protections for freedom of religion, the report added.—KMS
