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| Topic | Muslims in India remain in fear after mosques are targeted by Hindu supremacists |
| Lebronwon 11/05/21 1:19:32 PM #1: | https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/11/5/india-tripura-muslims-mosques-violence-bjp-vhp Liton Miya is still in a state of shock. It was 10 pm on October 23 when the 35-year-old heard some villagers scream in panic. As he rushed out along with others, a wooden bier and some prayer mats in the courtyard of the local mosque were on fire. We found that the attackers had poured kerosene inside the mosque as well. But before any more damage could happen, the village had woken up and the attackers fled, Miya said outside the small tin shack which serves as a mosque and traditional religious school in a quiet corner of Naraura village in Sipahijila district of Tripura state in northeastern India. Naraura is less than 50km (31 miles) from Comilla in neighbouring Bangladesh, where a photo of the Quran placed on an idol of a Hindu deity during the Durga Puja festival triggered violence across the Muslim-majority country, killing six people, including two Hindu men. In apparent retaliation to the deadly violence in Bangladesh, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council or VHP), and other local groups took out protest rallies in Tripura and allegedly attacked Muslims and their religious places, including mosques. The VHP is affiliated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological fountainhead of Indias Hindu supremacist groups which seeks to convert India into an ethnic Hindu state. Most top leaders of Indias governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, started their political careers as RSS workers. The string of attacks targeting mosques has triggered fears and anxiety among Tripuras Muslim minority. There are 16 mosques which have been targeted, said Mufti Abdul Momin, who heads a faction of Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind, an influential pan-India Muslim organisation, in Tripura. Momin said most incidents happened in the night and the locals were not able to identify the perpetrators. We do not sleep at night these days. Six or seven of us are up till dawn to guard the village, Najrul Islam, a government employee in the Chamtilla area of Panisagar, told Al Jazeera. Panisagar town, located in North Tripura district, saw the most arson and vandalism on October 26. Residents and police say the violence happened during the VHP rally. Islam said the rally passed through Chamtilla area at about 3 pm. The mob was shouting provocative and derogatory slogans against the prophet. Suddenly, 30 to 40 of them came towards the mosque and vandalised it, he told Al Jazeera. The attackers broke the windows and smashed the ceiling fans as Islam and other locals watched from a distance, scared that the mob could come after them if they intervened. They did not even spare the agar (Aquilaria) trees. They sell for thousands, he said. A row of trees in the mosques courtyard was uprooted by the mob. After attacking the mosque in Chamtilla, the rally proceeded towards Rowa, a short distance away where a group of Muslims had gathered at the local mosque. Some of those who were part of the rally wanted to march towards the mosque. But they were stopped by the police and some Hindus of the village, Sanohar Ali, who owns a shop in the local market, told Al Jazeera. Then, a section of the mob first attacked a couple of houses on the periphery of the village and started torching shops belonging to Muslims. Approximately half a dozen shops in the market were either fully or partially burned. --- Not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4, not 5, not 6, not 7 ... Copied to Clipboard! |
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