Dehli is currently engulfed in riots against the Muslim population in India resulting in the death of 27 and counting, with over 200 critically injured.
There have been several instances of religious violence against Muslims since the Partition of India in 1947. The roots of this violence are thought to lie in India’s history – resentment toward the Islamic conquest of India during the middle ages, policies established by the country’s British colonizers, and the violent partition of India into an Islamic state of Pakistan and India with a Muslim minority.
Many scholars believe that incidents of anti-Muslim violence are politically motivated and parts of the electoral strategy of mainstream political parties who are associated with Hindu nationalism like the Bharatiya Janata Party. Other scholars believe that the violence is not widespread but that it is restricted to certain urban areas because of local socio-political conditions.
Violence against Muslims is frequently in the form of mob attacks on Muslims by Hindus. These attacks are referred to as communal riots in India and are seen to be part of a pattern of sporadic sectarian violence between the majority Hindu and minority Muslim communities, and have also been connected to a rise in Islamophobia throughout the 20th century.
During the current riots, there have been countless reports of violence against Muslim women, children and families, not just restricted to Muslim men, including sexual violence, burning of the Holy Quran, prayer mats and Mosques, along with the homes and shops of Muslim inhabitants in various regions of India.
Upon calling the fire department and police for help, the victims of these riots were sorely disappointed at the lack of empathy and ethics displayed by the governmental departments whose job is to protect and serve all Indians, whether Hindu, Muslim, Sikh or otherwise.
There have been reports of tear gas containers being thrown into the homes and shops of said victims, which makes us wonder, if tear gas is used for riot control, why was it used against the victims of a riot? What does this say about the Indian government and its law enforcement capabilities?
Where there is such unbearable violence, there are people who condemn it by supporting the victims of these riots, offering them asylum and shelter in their homes and religious abodes. There have reports of many Gurdwaras offering help and shelter to Muslims who have been affected by these riots. Back in the ‘84 genocide of the Sikh community in India, they suffered a much worse fate at the hands of mobs, which is probably the reason they know what it feels like to be in this position. The identities of these Gurdwaras shall remain confidential so as to not put them at risk.
What has this world come to? Who are these people? How is it that they have no humanity left in them?
We must support the victims of these riots however we are able. We urge our Indian brothers to extend help towards the victims to the best of their abilities.
