By Ajmal Khan Yousafzai
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday urged the world community to “act now” on the deadly violence against Muslims in India.
Communal violence in the capital New Delhi has led to the deaths of 20 individuals and injured 200 others since Sunday.
In a post shared on Twitter, the premier said: “Today in India we are seeing the Nazi-inspired RSS ideology take over a nuclear-armed state of over a billion people. Whenever a racist ideology based on hatred takes over, it leads to bloodshed.” Prime Minister Imran said he had predicted during his address at the United Nations General Assembly that “once the genie is out of the bottle, the bloodshed will get worse”.
“IOJK [Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir] was the beginning. Now 200 million Muslims in India are being targeted. The world community must act now.”
In a subsequent tweet, the premier said that minorities are equal citizens of Pakistan and warned Pakistanis against targeting non-Muslims or their places of worship. “I want to warn our people that anyone in Pakistan targeting our non-Muslim citizens or their places of worship will be dealt with strictly. Our minorities are equal citizens of this country,” he said.
This is not the first time Prime Minister Imran has condemned what he terms as the spread of the RSS ideology in India. On several instances in the past, the premier has referred to
India’s annexation of occupied Kashmir and its introduction of new citizenship laws as part of larger agenda, inspired by the extremist Hindutva ideology, to change demographics in Muslim-majority areas.
Meanwhile, Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif also condemned the communal violence taking place in the Indian capital.In a statement, Shehbaz stated: “Modi is repeating the events of Gujrat in Delhi. The international community should take notice of the violence against Muslims and the attacks on places of worship.”
Calling for an end to the bloodshed, Shehbaz urged Indian authorities to arrest all those involved in organising and instigating the riots and for compensating the victims. Also calling out the US president, Shehbaz added that Donald Trump should have condemned the violence against Muslims during his two-day visit to New Delhi which ended on Tuesday. Protests against a contentious citizenship law began on a smaller scale on Sunday but escalated on Monday and Tuesday into running battles between Hindus and Muslims in New Delhi’s north-east, where rioters armed with stones, swords and even guns were out in force.
20 people died and nearly 200 others were wounded in the first two days of violence, the director of the hospital where people were taken, told on Wednesday.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, breaking his silence on the violence in the capital, said he had conducted an extensive review of the situation prevailing, adding that police and other relevant agencies were working on the ground to “ensure peace and normalcy”.
“Peace and harmony are central to our ethos,” Modi said in a subsequent tweet.
“I appeal to my sisters and brothers of Delhi to maintain peace and brotherhood at all times. It is important that there is calm and normalcy is restored at the earliest,” he added.
Earlier on Wednesday, New Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said the army should be called in and a curfew should also be imposed in the rest of the affected areas.
According to India Today, curfew was imposed in four areas of North East Delhi — Maujpur, Jaffrabad, Chand Bagh and Karawal Nagar. Additionally, the report added that a shoot-at-sight order was issued on Tuesday evening in the clash-hit areas.
United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres is closely following the situation in New Delhi, First Post reported.
