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Pakistan on Thursday slammed the bulldozing of Muslim-owned properties in New Delhi’s Jahangirpuri locality, describing it as a further manifestation of the “absolute apathy, complete disregard for the rule of law, and deeply entrenched hatred against Muslims in India.”
In a statement, the Foreign Office said that “wanton destruction” of houses belonging to Muslims served to deprive them of their fundamental right to shelter and left them at the mercy of the Hindutva-inspired state machinery. “The deliberate silence of the BJP-RSS dispensation at the helm in India has exposed the state-support provided to the Hindu zealots in their execution of a well-thought-out plan to marginalize and further dispossess the Muslims,” it said, adding that the “openly prejudiced law enforcement agencies” had refused to respond to urgent calls for assistance by the local Muslim communities in India.
“During the holy month of Ramzan, there has been a visible surge in communal violence against Muslims spearheaded by radical Hindu mobs,” it said, lamenting that it was “bizarre” that authorities were reacting by targeting and arresting Muslims, who had already borne the brunt of “traumatic intimidation and threats” at the hands of the Hindu majority.
“Pakistan calls upon India to treat the Muslims with dignity, transparently investigate the recent incidents of widespread violence, and take effective measures to prevent the recurrence of such incidents in future,” it said, adding that the international community must also take note of the deeply worrying trajectory of Islamophobia in India and play its due role in ensuring the safety, security and well-being of the country’s Muslim community.
Recent communal clashes in several parts of India have been followed by demolition drives, with critics noting they appeared to be designed to intimidate India’s Muslim population. Earlier this month several homes and shops were torn down in the central state of Madhya Pradesh and western Gujarat state in the aftermath of communal violence on the day of a Hindu festival.
On Thursday, the Indian Supreme Court stopped the demolition drive against encroachments in Jahangirpuri for two weeks. In its order, the apex court warned that it would penalize any attempts to deliberately delay the stoppage.