‘Sar Tan Se Juda’ Murders: India Under Attack from Radical Islam but International Silence is Nauseating

 

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Kanhaiya Lal, Umesh Kolhe, Munish Bhardwaj, Ankit Jha, Shanu Pandey and Nishank Rathore. All these are names of people who were attacked and killed in the past few weeks for supporting Nupur Sharma’s freedom of speech. Most of them are dead today. Udaipur’s Kanhaiya Lal was butchered with a cleaver. Nishank Rathore’s body was found on a railway track with a cryptic message sent to his father reading, “Gustakh-E-Nabi ki Ek Hi Saza”.

Riaz Akhtari and Ghouse Mohammad, accused in the murder of tailor Kanhaiya Lal, being produced at district court, in Udaipur, on June 30, 2022. (PTI)

Six men across India were attacked brutally for supporting Nupur Sharma, but not a single coverage of how radical Islamists are targeting India anywhere in the international press.

Contrast this with the outpour that Mohammed Zubair’s arrest has generated. Almost all international media outlets have covered his arrest with headlines, stressing his identity as a Muslim and a journalist. The frame of reference chosen in their coverage is that of a journalist of a minority community persecuted by a majoritarian state. For them, India is a fascist state that puts journalists behind the bar, for speaking the truth to power.

What explains this international silence on murders committed over blasphemy in India? The Western media hasn’t been this silent over Islamist mobs baying for the blood of those who committed alleged blasphemy in cases 1. when Pakistan held blasphemy against Asiya Bibi. 2. The assassination of Salman Taseer, then governor of Punjab province in Pakistan, over blasphemy 3. of the “Je Suis Charlie” protests that evoked massive support from freedom of speech defenders, around the world, after a deadly shooting at French magazine Charlie Hebdo’s office.

Six people have been attacked and killed in India. A lot of others are getting threats daily. The person at the centre, Nupur Sharma, has been forced to stay in hiding. All of this is due to the fear of Islamists. But strangely enough, not an iota of protest internationally.

India is in a precarious situation that on one hand there is a constant narrative demonising the majority community over the treatment of minorities. Conferences are being organised in university departments painting a fictional doomsday scenario for India under the ruling party the world over. On the other hand, there is a credible threat from radical Islam to the country. Just a few days ago, a module of the Popular Front of India (PFI), a radical Islamist organisation, was busted in Patna, Bihar.

The International community like The UN and its branches, the champions of freedom of speech like IFEX, Article 19, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Human Rights Watch (HRW), and PEN International media are now under test and trials. It is apparent from the past that these organisations are only for western countries and their fear is Islam. In the diplomatic war, these organisations unite to save western interests against eastern.

India should not expect support from western countries and the so-called international community. India should stand bold like the Chinese government.

Islamist documents recovered from a raid as a conspiracy, “Vision 2047”  disclosed plans to turn India into an Islamic State by 2047. 

The documents that generated a furore domestically, were hardly even noticed by the international media. Any action by India against radical Islam will increasingly call for even more scrutiny and condemnation by the global press. That’s the challenge that India must face. Even innocent people belonging to the so-called majority Hindu community keep losing their lives.