AMP Report - June 26, 2019
US condemns 'brutal' lynching of Tabrez Ansari, urges Modi govt to curb violence
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
The US Commission for International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) Wednesday strongly condemned lynching of Tabrez Ansari, a Muslim, in Jharkhand and called on the government to take concrete actions to prevent this kind of violence and intimidation.
Tabrez Ansari, was tied to a pole and thrashed with sticks by a mob at Dhatkidih village in Jharkhand.
"We condemn in the strongest terms this brutal murder,in which the perpetrators reportedly forced Ansari to say Hindu chants as they beat him for hours," USCIRF chairman Tony Perkins said."
We call on the Indian Government to take concrete actions that will prevent this kind of violence and intimidation by a thorough investigation of Ansari's murder as well as the local police's handling of the case," he said, adding, "Lack of accountability will only encourage those who believe they can target religious minorities with impunity.
"Report on International Religious Freedom 2018", is available on website of US State Dept,
In its recent annual report, USCIRF said that the "authorities often failed to prosecute perpetrators of 'cow vigilante' attacks, which included killings, mob violence, and intimidation".
The report detailed numerous concerns in Jharkhand, including its anti-conversion law and mob violence against religious minorities.
The incidents of lynching by cow vigilantes have been on the rise across the country in the last few years.
Let's defend religious freedom for all, says Mike Pompeo on India visit
Amid lynching incidents, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is on a two-day visit to Delhi, today said US and India should "stand up for religious freedom."
The comment is likely to raise eyebrows, coming on the heels of a US State Department report on the matter that was critical of India on that score, according to NDTV.
In his India policy speech at the India International Centre, Mr Pompeo said: "India is the birthplace of four major world religions. Let's stand up and defend religious freedom for all. Let's speak up strongly together in favour of those rights. For whenever we do compromise those rights, the world is worse off."
Protests in various cities over Ansari lynching
Protests were held in several Indian cities on Wednesday following the lynching of Tabrez Ansari, a Muslim man, last week by a Hindu mob, The First Post reported.
Increasing anger about the killing in Jharkhand prompted Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make his first comments on the matter on Wednesday, telling the upper house of parliament he was “pained” to hear about it and calling for “the strictest possible punishment to the accused”.
Holding placards and chanting slogans against the ruling BJP and PM Narendra Modi, the protesters demanded an end to violence against Muslims."Violence against Muslims has to stop," said one of the speakers at the protest site.
In Gujarat and West Bengal, hundreds took to the streets carrying posters that read ‘No more lynching in the name of religion.’
Protests were planned in about 50 cities.
According to the First Post, hate crimes against minorities have spiked in India since Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014. Dozens of Muslim men have been attacked or lynched by Hindu mobs since then, many on suspicion of slaughtering cows, which are considered holy in the Hindu religion.
Two days after Ansari’s killing, a Muslim religious school teacher in West Bengal’s Kolkata reported that he’d been pushed off a moving train when he refused to chant his devotion to Hindu gods as some Hindu men in the train demanded.
Many people took to social media to condemn the BJP-led government in Jharkhand state, where civil society groups have recorded at least 13 lynchings of minorities, mainly Muslims, in the past three years.
"Efforts are being made to divide people in the name of religion so that they fight each other and the real issues are not talked about." Kavita Krishnan, the secretary of All India Progressive Women's Association, said: "People from the Muslim community are being continuously targeted."
"In almost every case of lynching, barring one or two, people have been arrested but never prosecuted or convicted," she said."India must realise that this is not an emergency for the Indian Muslims only but for India's democracy as well," said Apoorvanand, an activist and professor at Delhi University.
Two Muslims thrashed in Gurugram for allegedly smuggling beef
Two Muslim men were assaulted by a mob in Haryana’s Gurugram on the suspicion of smuggling beef.
The incident took place on Tuesday when a group of "cow protection unit" near Islampur village intercepted two vehicles allegedly carrying "beef consignment", the Times of India reported.
Shathil Ahmad, a resident of Palwal district, and Tayaid were caught by the mob and beaten black and blue, while two others managed to escape.
What the international media is saying about India?
India has captured international media headlines in the last few weeks - with news of the lynching of Tabrez Ansari…. - gripping the country receiving global attention, the Citizen reported Wednesday.
‘Forced to Chant Hindu Slogans, Muslim Man Is Beaten to Death in India’ reads a New York Times headline. “After apprehending a Muslim man suspected of stealing a motorcycle, the Hindu mob tied him to a lamppost and reportedly beat him for 12 hours while forcing him to chant praises to Hindu gods. Videos began circulating widely showing the attack last week in eastern India, which went on for so long that some of the footage was in daylight and other parts in darkness,” the article - published June 25 - begins.
“The beating has become another signal of the bitter tensions in India between the country’s Hindu majority and its large Muslim minority. Part of the reason that the videos spread so quickly was not so much the vigilante beating — a relatively common occurrence in many areas of India — but the mob’s repeated efforts to force the victim to chant slogans often used by the governing Bharatiya Janata Party, “Hail Lord Ram” and “Hail Hanuman,” referring to Hindu gods,” the NYT article states.
‘Muslim man dies after being beaten for hours, forced to chant Hindu slogans,’ reports ABC News. News of his death emerged as India's Government rejected a US State Department report that said religious intolerance and violence against minorities had spiked under right-wing Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The US religious freedom report said there had been an increase in attacks by groups claiming to protect cows — considered sacred by Hindus — on Muslims and low-caste Dalits since 2014, when Mr Modi came to power,’ the article says.
'Obvious religious hatred': Muslim man in India lynched on video’ is Al Jazeera’s news headline. “Tied to a pole, Ansari is also forced to shout "Jai Shri Ram" (Hail Lord Ram), a slogan increasingly used by Hindu far right groups, according to the footage, which has gone viral,” says the report. “Dozens of Muslims have been killed by Hindu groups in the past five years over allegations that they slaughtered cows or had eaten beef,” the same report concludes. It also refers to the US religious freedom report, and India’s denial in response.
Abdus Sattar Ghazali is the Chief Editor of the Journal of America (www.journalofamerica.net) email: asghazali2011 (@) gmail.com
The Journal of America Team:
Editor in chief:
Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Senior Editor:
Prof. Arthur Scott
Special Correspondent
Maryam Turab
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