The International Union of Muslim Scholars denounced the systematic persecution and violence that Indian Muslims, especially Assam, are subjected to, calling on the government of New Delhi to respect the religious and social rights of the Muslim minority, and the United Nations to stop these crimes that may amount to “war crimes against humanity.”.
This came in a statement issued by the Federation (a non-governmental organization based in Doha) appended to the signature of its Secretary-General, Ali al-Qaradaghi, commenting on the killing of 3 Muslims in the city of Dispur, the capital of Assam (northeast), by police bullets, during protests against the displacement of hundreds of Muslim families from the state.
The union said that it “condemns the systematic violence, killing and persecution of Muslims in India, especially in the state of Assam, against their rights, religious freedom and social life, and attempts to force them to flee from their homes.”
He considered that “these actions are contrary to all international laws, human instinct, and all heavenly laws.”
On Sunday, the opposition “Indian National Congress” party objected to the local government in the state of Assam evacuating hundreds of homes for the Muslim minority on the pretext that they were “erected on state-owned land”.
In a statement, the party denounced the displacement of thousands of Muslims and the killing of 3 people, in addition to the injury of dozens in confrontations with the Assam police, considering the police’s treatment of the protesters “brutal and inhuman.”
In the face of this, the International Union of Muslim Scholars, in its statement, called on the United Nations and Islamic and Arab countries to “stop these crimes, which may amount to war crimes against humanity.”
The union also called on the Indian government to “respect all the religious and social rights and freedoms of the Muslim minority.”
He said that the violation of these rights “contradicts the state’s duty to preserve the security of the citizen and with the historical relations with the Islamic world, which does not accept what is happening, and will take measures, including economic boycotts, even at the popular level.”
He concluded his statement by calling on the whole world for “real and sincere constructive cooperation to achieve peace and social harmony at the level of all countries and on one-minute scales.”
And media sources in Assam reported that about 20 thousand of the Muslim minority were displaced from their homes after the authorities’ decision to remove residential neighborhoods for Muslims on the pretext that they were built on state-owned land.
The evictions of Muslims from their homes are expected to continue despite the announcement by the Chief Minister of Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma , to form a commission of inquiry into the events in the state.
India is home to about 154 million Muslims (14 percent of the population), making it the largest country with a Muslim minority in the world.
