What happened to blacks in South Africa as an apartheid state, is exactly what Israel has done and continues to do with the Arabs and Palestinians living there. In South Africa, the original inhabitants are now back in power, but the situation in Israel is still dire for Arabs and a limited number of Palestinians. Under a well-established strategy, fruit-bearing trees have been cut down in the Arabian Peninsula and planted with fruit-bearing or shade trees. The most horrific form of all these atrocities is that the houses of these oppressed people are demolished without any hesitation even on minor charges. Numerous reports released by US agencies themselves have made it clear that this is being done under a systematic plan. Many reports say that demolition of houses is often given only a few hours’ notice, after which action is taken, regardless of whether there are any casualties.
After South Africa and Israel, a new form of apartheid has begun to appear in India. In this country, which claims to be the largest democracy, the process of discriminating against minorities, especially Muslims, has intensified. Muslims living in India have been the victims of majority oppression since the partition, but these atrocities have increased since the 2002 Gujarat riots. It has long been speculated that the Hindu-Muslim card may have been used as an election ploy, but circumstances have begun to show that the matter is different. Since the BJP came to power, the way in which extremist Hindu organizations have been targeted, the manner in which they have been given official patronage over anti-Muslim activities, clearly shows that the issue is ‘Ram Raj’. As the situation has reached the point where extremists like Narsingh Anand are openly talking about the massacre of ordinary Muslims in Dharma Sansad, i.e., religious gatherings. Extremists like Bajrang Muni stand in front of the mosque and talk about evicting Muslim women from their homes and raping them. In Karnataka, Muslim women have been deprived of the religious right to wear hijab. The sale and consumption of meat was banned in several states on the occasion of the Hindu festival of Nooratri. A massive campaign is now underway to remove loudspeakers from mosques. In the mosques where the call to prayer is given on loudspeakers, the Hindus start singing their hymns on the speaker during the call to prayer. In short, the torture of 200 million Muslims in India has now been completely tightened. The extreme form of this torture has begun to emerge even in the case of the demolition of Muslim houses and shops. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath’s bulldozer has been operating on Muslim property for a long time. At least 22 houses and 16 shops of Muslims have been demolished on the orders of Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra. The excuse was made that stones were hurled at the Hindu procession from these houses and shops. The same pattern was seen in the Jahangirpuri area of Delhi. Here, too, several Muslim properties, including a mosque, were reduced to rubble for throwing stones at a procession. There have also been incidents of Muslim property being demolished in three other states. It is as if the last phase of putting Muslims against the wall has begun. Apparently, there is no obstacle left for this process to continue. Now this process will accelerate with each passing day. One of the main reasons for this is that secular voices against extremists in India are weakening.
Indian occupation forces desecrated over 130 religious places including mosques, shrines and dargahs in the IIOJK yet but not a single criminal was taken to task. May 11 reminded the painful story of desecration and destruction of centuries’ old shrine at the hands of Indian armed forces, 27 years ago. Charrar-e-Sharif Shrine was one of Kashmir’s holiest shrines. The shrine built of square-shaped wooden structure caught fire and was heavily damaged as a result of an action by Indian occupational forces. The Indian action razed off Kashmir’s holiest shrine and an adjoining mosque to the ground. 2200 shops and houses in the surrounding area were destroyed by Indian army. The shrine has a great religious and historical significance in the cultural heritage of Kashmir and is considered one of holiest place of Muslims in Kashmir.
Indian occupation authorities were doing all these acts under its notorious and nefarious plan to erase golden history of the Muslim from the occupied region. However, Persecution of churches, mosques is the hallmark of Indian religious fanatics. India has been facing direct rebuke from US, EU, UN organizations and HRW groups in relation to its declining record of HRAs and religious intolerance.