Kashmir lawmaker humiliated for beef ban opposition

Hindu group claims responsibility for ink attack on Engineer Sheikh Abdul Rashid

SRINAGAR:

In a second such incident in a week, an independent lawmaker from Indian-administered Kashmir was attacked with black ink and Mobil oil during a press conference in New Delhi on Monday.

The Vishnu Gupta-led extremist group Hindu Sena claimed responsibility for the attack, according to TV reports. Two persons have been detained by the police over the incident.

Engineer Sheikh Abdul Rashid, who opposes a ban on beef-eating, had been speaking on rising incidents of religious intolerance, reported Times Now news channel.

Earlier this month, Rashid was assaulted by lawmakers from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) inside the Jammu & Kashmir Legislative Assembly for hosting a party where he served beef on the lawns of the government circuit house.

Rashid and his supporters had staged a protest against the attack. J&K Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed and his predecessor, National Conference leader Omar Abdullah, had also condemned the incident.

India is the world’s biggest exporter of beef, which includes buffalo as well as cow meat, an industry run mainly by Muslims. The BJP seeks a nationwide ban on the slaughter of cows, currently prohibited in some states.

Last Monday, members of the far-right Indian extremist group Shiv Sena had doused Sudheendra Kulkarni for organising former Pakistani foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri’s book launch in Mumbai.

A week before that, the Shiv Sena, a junior partner in the BJP-led ruling coalition in the Maharashtra state government, had been accused of using threats to force the cancellation of an appearance in Mumbai by Pakistani singer Ghulam Ali.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, October 20^th, 2015.