Daily Times

More than 200 million Indian Muslims are being assaulted, denied medical care and subjected to boycott. Indian government, media and Hindu extremists have made the lives, living and livelihood of the native Muslims miserable in a new series of victimization incidents. Press TV, the Iran’s leading media network, Washington Post, New York Times and several other international print and electronic media outlets are consistently making headlines in favour of the miserably vulnerable Muslim communities and the victim of accusations for 30 per cent spread of COVID-19 – the coronavirus in India.

The Washington Post writes on April 23: “In India, the search for scapegoats during the coronavirus pandemic has focused squarely on the country’s sizable Muslim minority, a community of 200 million that felt under threat even before the advent of covid-19. News channels and some ruling-party officials rushed to blame Muslims for the rising number of coronavirus cases in the country after an Islamic missionary group in New Delhi emerged as a super-spreader. In recent weeks, Muslims have been assaulted, denied medical care and subjected to boycotts – all in the name of fear of the virus.

In India, the malice directed toward Muslims during the pandemic has intensified an already difficult situation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pursued an agenda of Hindu primacy, moving India away from its secular founding ideals and raising fears that Muslims will be treated as second-class citizens. In February, the Indian capital witnessed its worst violence between Hindus and Muslims in decades. More than 50 people, most of them Muslims, were killed.

In late March, the Delhi headquarters of an international Islamic missionary group called Tablighi Jamaat emerged as a major source of coronavirus infections. More than 4,000 confirmed cases have been linked to people who passed through the center. Its leader is facing criminal charges, including negligently spreading disease, which he denies. Television anchors accused the group of engaging in a deliberate conspiracy to spread the virus, without citing any evidence. “We have identified the corona villains,” thundered Arnab Goswami of Republic TV.

Meanwhile, slurs against Muslims spread on social media. Videos, shared on Facebook and Twitter, have falsely accused Muslims of spreading the virus by purposely spitting, licking or sneezing on food. The hashtag #CoronaJihad circulated widely. A member of parliament from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party took up the phrase, while another party official likened members of the Tablighi Jamaat to “human bombs.”

Keeping in view the fast deteriorated situation in India against Muslims, the human rights body of the Organization of Islamic Conference has also timely urged the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take urgent steps to stop religion based violence against Muslims on the false accusations of spreading covid-19.

The Pakistan government needs to understand the strategic aspect of lobbying if wants to help the poor Muslims across the border

Prime Minister Imran Khan also tweeted once against the India’s bashing against their Muslim population in February followed by a statement by the Pakistan foreign office and deep silence since then. Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs head Mushahid Hussain Sayed has tweeted on the issue for three times though not sufficient response from either side.

Mushahid Hussain Sayed believes that raising voice against the Indian brutal discrimination against their Muslim population is not on the Pakistan government’s priority agenda as yet while the foreign office is busy elsewhere. Designing and implementation of lobbying campaign would not cost millions to the government if it begins writing strongly worded letters to different countries and human rights forums such as the United Nations, the European Union and the US and British human rights forums. It would bring significant support for the Muslims in India and India-held Kashmir. Indian Muslims are victim of two types of viruses, both corona and hate speech. Coronavirus would certainly go after taking its toll but the hate crime would last with deep-rooted disintegration of the region based on the religion.

Pakistan government, media and civil society need to wake up to urgently raise voice against the state supported and sponsored vilification of Indian Muslims – the largest majority in India. One tweet or two statements Pakistan government on the Indian state sponsored terrorism and extremist behaviours against the Muslims in India and Indian-Held Kashmir won’t serve the objective. Pakistan government needs to come up with an integrated campaign to global lobbying against the Indian vilification. Merely, single and wake statement of the foreign office won’t make any difference. It is new expression of old enmity against Muslims that will cause deep-rooted religion-based disintegration in the region.

Being chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Mushahid Hussain Sayed has hinted to convene a committee meeting next week to discuss Pakistan’s possible, integrated and consistent stance on the vilification of the Indian Muslims to reach out for support from the international and global forums.

The hate-speech against Muslims is not new but it has been multiplied in the recent years. Not only Indian media is supporting the extremist Hindus but the social media is also flooded with the hate speech against Muslims in India and the IHK. It is our national responsibility to combat the hate speech by putting up meaningful posts on the social media platforms. At least, this is what the civil society and the Pakistani social media users can do without any cost to them. The mainstream media should also take up the Indian Muslims misery as a top priority to influence the government for taking necessary action.

The Pakistan government needs to understand the strategic aspect of lobbying if wants to help the poor Muslims across the border. About seven decades now, Pakistan cannot get the Kashmir dispute registered adequately and get any framework done for its solution according to the will and self-determination of the natives. Despite this failure citizens expect some dynamic move from the unpredictable nature of Prime Minister Imran Khan. On the other hand, civil society should get rid of their pity engagement on social platforms and concentrate on the challenges of national importance, such as highlighting the vilification of Muslims in India and occupies Kashmir.

The writer is the Director Devcom-Pakistan, an Islamabad-based policy advocacy, strategic communication and outreach think tank. Email: devcom.pakistan@gmail.com, Twitter: @EmmayeSyed