India under fire after Islamophobic remarks of BJP officials

Several Muslim countries, including Pakistan, on Sunday took strong exception to the derogatory remarks made against Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) by two officials of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The Pakistani leadership condemned in the strongest terms, the Islamophobic remarks by the two spokespersons of India’s ruling party. Elsewhere, Qatar, Kuwait and Iran summoned the Indian envoys to register their protests and demanded apology from New Delhi.

President Arif Alvi and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in their separate statements, as well as the official Foreign Office statement, urged the international community to take cognisance now and “severely reprimand India” for the hurtful comments of its ruling-party leaders.

The BJP on Sunday suspended its spokespersons Nupur Sharma and Naveen Jindal from the party’s membership over their Islamophobic remarks. However, Pakistan and other Islamic countries said that it was not enough.

“Merely suspending and expelling party officials is not enough… the BJP must shun and denounce its extremist and fascist Hindutva ideology,” President Alvi said. The Foreign Office also urged India to “ensure decisive and demonstrable action” against those responsible.

Alvi said that the BJP’s hateful Hindutva philosophy was trampling religious freedoms of all its minorities and persecuting them without any impunity. “This is the reflection of growing trend of Islamophobia in India where Muslims lived in millions,” he added.

“Allowing such Islamophobic remarks to continue without punishment constitutes grave danger to the protection of human rights and may lead to further prejudice and marginalisation, which will create a cycle of violence and hate,” he warned.

Prime Minister Shehbaz said that the world should take note and severely reprimand India for the hurtful comments of the BJP leaders. “I condemn in strongest possible words hurtful comments of India’s BJP leader about our beloved Prophet (PBUH),” he tweeted.

“India under Modi is trampling religious freedoms & persecuting Muslims. World should take note & severely reprimand India. Our love for the Holy Prophet (PBUH) is supreme. All Muslims can sacrifice their life for the Love & Respect of their Holy Prophet (PBUH),” he added.

The Foreign Office said in a statement that BJP’s attempted clarification and belated and perfunctory disciplinary action against those individuals could not assuage the pain and anguish they caused to the Muslim world.

The Foreign Office urged India to ensure that decisive and demonstrable action was taken against those responsible for making the Islamophobic remarks. It urged the international community to take immediate cognisance of Islamophobia in India.

“The world must intervene to protect the Muslims in India from an impending genocide at the hands of Hindutva-inspired Hindu zealots, emboldened by the BJP-RSS dispensation at the helm,” the statement added.

Meanwhile, Kuwait said it had handed over an “official protest note expressing the State of Kuwait’s categorical rejection and condemnation of the insulting statements against the Holy Prophet (PBUH), Islam and Muslims issued by one of the officials in the ruling party.”

Qatar summoned the Indian envoy and handed him an official note that expressed Qatar’s disappointment and “its total rejection and condemnation [of] the controversial remarks made by an official in the ruling party in India,” its foreign ministry said.

(WITH INPUT FROM NEWS DESK)