Editorial Desk :
As an individual Muslim leader, only the Prime Minister of Malaysia Mahathir Mohamad, has criticised new citizenship law of India raising question about the “necessity” of it, when Indians have “lived together for 70 years”.
On the sidelines of the Kuala Lumpur Summit 2019 on Friday, Mr Mahathir said: “People are dying because of this law. I am sorry to see that India, which claims to be a secular state, now is taking action to deprive some Muslims of their citizenship.”
The CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) has spread fear among the Indian Muslims that Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to remould India as a Hindu nation and marginalise its Muslim nationals, who are nearly 14 percent of India’s total population.
Modi is globally known as a hater and killer of Muslims, who was previously banned in the USA for igniting violence against the Muslim community.
India, however, on Saturday protested Malaysian PM’s criticism, saying that such comments are not in sync with established diplomatic practice of non-interference in any country’s internal affairs.
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Sunday expressed concerns over the same issue. It reiterates its call to ensure the safety of the Muslim minority and the protection of Islamic holy places in India.
OIC, the Islamic block of 57 Muslim countries, urged to uphold the principles and obligations enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations and relevant international covenants that guarantee the rights of minorities without any discrimination”.
On the other hand, the United Nations has already termed the CAA “fundamentally discriminatory”. Besides, the US State Department has urged India to “protect the rights of its religious minorities”.
Meanwhile, thousands of people have so far been arrested, and at least 32 people have been killed, as police tried to quash widespread protests over the CAA. The northern state of Uttar Pradesh has drawn particular attention where at least 20 people, including an 8-year-old boy, were killed in the protests.
Violent protests erupted throughout the India after passage of the CAA on December 11 by India’s parliament with clearing a path to citizenship for Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians who came to India from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
But the Muslim immigrants wouldn’t get same facility.
There is another reason for Muslims to get frightened. The CAA is closely linked with another contentious document: India’s National Register of Citizens (NRC).
When the NRC was published in August, around 2 million people, many of them Muslims, in the northeastern state of Assam, found that their names were not on it. They were told to prove their citizenships; otherwise they can be rounded up into detention camps to be deported.
What’s true is that popular Muslim leaders – such as Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan or powerful Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman didn’t raise their voice against the anti-Muslim law.
Even Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan, who often remains vocal against India, didn’t make any statement in this regard.
Though there is a statement from OIC, it seems too soft to counter the aggressiveness of “neo India” run by Hindu nationalists Modi and Amit Shah.
The OIC in the recent times has miserably failed to show unity of strength in protecting Muslims in different parts from suffering and humiliation in the hands of Muslim haters.
The Muslims together are far from being weak. That is why the collective timidity of the Muslim leaders is a shame the Muslims all over the world are living with.
Another burning human issue is the brutal conduct of Myanmar government. Thousands of Rohingyas have taken shelter in Bangladesh losing everything only to live the miserable life of refugees with no future.
The Muslim countries in the Middle East spend trillion dollars for buying weapons from different countries including, United States and Russia, yet they are helpless and weak.
Other than fighting among themselves foolishly their power is no good for protecting the honour and dignity of distressed Muslims.
As an individual Muslim leader, only the Prime Minister of Malaysia Mahathir Mohamad, has criticised new citizenship law of India raising question about the “necessity” of it, when Indians have “lived together for 70 years”.
On the sidelines of the Kuala Lumpur Summit 2019 on Friday, Mr Mahathir said: “People are dying because of this law. I am sorry to see that India, which claims to be a secular state, now is taking action to deprive some Muslims of their citizenship.”
The CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) has spread fear among the Indian Muslims that Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to remould India as a Hindu nation and marginalise its Muslim nationals, who are nearly 14 percent of India’s total population.
Modi is globally known as a hater and killer of Muslims, who was previously banned in the USA for igniting violence against the Muslim community.
India, however, on Saturday protested Malaysian PM’s criticism, saying that such comments are not in sync with established diplomatic practice of non-interference in any country’s internal affairs.
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Sunday expressed concerns over the same issue. It reiterates its call to ensure the safety of the Muslim minority and the protection of Islamic holy places in India.
OIC, the Islamic block of 57 Muslim countries, urged to uphold the principles and obligations enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations and relevant international covenants that guarantee the rights of minorities without any discrimination”.
On the other hand, the United Nations has already termed the CAA “fundamentally discriminatory”. Besides, the US State Department has urged India to “protect the rights of its religious minorities”.
Meanwhile, thousands of people have so far been arrested, and at least 32 people have been killed, as police tried to quash widespread protests over the CAA. The northern state of Uttar Pradesh has drawn particular attention where at least 20 people, including an 8-year-old boy, were killed in the protests.
Violent protests erupted throughout the India after passage of the CAA on December 11 by India’s parliament with clearing a path to citizenship for Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians who came to India from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
But the Muslim immigrants wouldn’t get same facility.
There is another reason for Muslims to get frightened. The CAA is closely linked with another contentious document: India’s National Register of Citizens (NRC).
When the NRC was published in August, around 2 million people, many of them Muslims, in the northeastern state of Assam, found that their names were not on it. They were told to prove their citizenships; otherwise they can be rounded up into detention camps to be deported.
What’s true is that popular Muslim leaders – such as Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan or powerful Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman didn’t raise their voice against the anti-Muslim law.
Even Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan, who often remains vocal against India, didn’t make any statement in this regard.
Though there is a statement from OIC, it seems too soft to counter the aggressiveness of “neo India” run by Hindu nationalists Modi and Amit Shah.
The OIC in the recent times has miserably failed to show unity of strength in protecting Muslims in different parts from suffering and humiliation in the hands of Muslim haters.
The Muslims together are far from being weak. That is why the collective timidity of the Muslim leaders is a shame the Muslims all over the world are living with.
Another burning human issue is the brutal conduct of Myanmar government. Thousands of Rohingyas have taken shelter in Bangladesh losing everything only to live the miserable life of refugees with no future.
The Muslim countries in the Middle East spend trillion dollars for buying weapons from different countries including, United States and Russia, yet they are helpless and weak.
Other than fighting among themselves foolishly their power is no good for protecting the honour and dignity of distressed Muslims.
