In brazen violation of religious freedom, Hindu extremists backed by police attacked Muslims and prevented them from taking out Eid Milad-un-Nabi (PBUH) processions across India. A report released by Kashmir Media Service said that India under Modi is pursuing controversial policies, openly ignoring Muslims’ rights including their religious freedom. On Tuesday, when Muslims tried to take out peaceful Milad processions in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and other states of India to mark the birth anniversary of Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH), they were brutally suppressed. Many Muslims were injured in attacks by Hindu extremists and police. The police used lathi-charge against the Muslims. The policemen kept pulling the beards of the Muslims and smashed them to the ground. The KMS report cited the findings of the US Commission on Int’l Religious Freedom and said that religious freedom in India continued its negative trajectory in 2021. Modi govt is promoting Hindu nationalist policies resulting in systematic and egregious violations of religious freedom in India, the US commission maintained. The report emphasised that Muslims in India have been facing systematic discrimination, prejudice, and violence despite so-called constitutional protections. Anti-Muslim sentiments have heightened under RSS-backed BJP’s Indian government led by Modi, it added. Persecution of Muslims, Christians and other minorities has increased manifold since BJP came to power in India, the report said and added that those attacking Muslims are enjoying widespread impunity as Modi is on a mission to purge India of minorities. KIIR chief slams torture of Ahsan Untoo: Meanwhile, the Chairman of Kashmir Institute of International Relations (KIIR) Altaf Hussain Wani has condemned in strong terms the torture of veteran rights activist and chairman International Forum for Justice and Human Rights, Muhammad Ahasan Untoo by the Indian forces in occupied Kashmir. In a statement, the KIIR chief, while highlighting Untoo’s peerless contribution in highlighting Indian brutalities and the plight of common Kashmiris, said that IFJHR chairman has been tortured and incarcerated many times in the past for his human rights activism. “He is one of the bold and brave voices of the region who is being victimised just for standing up for the rights of common Kashmiris, calling a spade a spade and speaking truth to the power,” Wani said, adding that atrocious attack on Untoo was a sheer hooliganism and a flagrant violation of basic human rights. Urging global human rights bodies to take effective notice of the Indian brutalities, the KIIR chairman said that the BJP government was hell bent on choking every dissenting voice in Kashmir. “Intimidation, torture, arbitrary arrests of rights defenders and terrorising their families remain to be one of the extreme measures the Indian government has been using as a state policy to enable complete silence on Kashmir and to subdue critical voices who dare to speak truth to power,” Wani said.